Memory Yields
by Sumarfishy
Summary: [SASUNARU] After almost four years of house-arrest for running after Orochimaru, Sasuke is finally able to resume his life as a shinobi. When Naruto disappears shortly afterward, will the village allow the once wayward ninja to track him down?
1. Sweet Sixteen

**NOTE FOR LATER CHAPTERS:** unedited NC-17 version of later chapters will be posted on the SasuNaru fansite, baka**(dot)**yondaime**(dot)**net - All chapters that involve NC-17 material will have to be severely edited and cut up to be posted on FFnet.

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**Title: **Memory Yields****

**Author:** JaD

**Email:** jad**(at)**yondaime**(dot)**net

**Website: **baka**(dot)**yondaime**(dot)**net

**Rating:** R

**Genre:** Humor and angst with small helpings of romance.

**Pairings:** SasuNaru

**POV:** third person, all-knowing

**Spoilers:** Up to manga chapter 234.

**Warnings:** shounen-ai, explicit heterosexual and yaoi pairings, sexual themes, foul language, crude jokes… and a (:_gasp:_) plot.

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Kudos, Kishimoto!

**Feedback:** Most appreciated. Comments usually result in quicker updates, too

**Timeline:** …begins on March 28, which is Sakura's birthday. Naruto is now fifteen, and all of his fellow teammates are around the same age. Those a year above him (Lee, Neji, etc) are currently 16.

**Assumptions made for the sake of storyline: **Itachi is still alive and Orochimaru is still at large. Naruto and all of the other "Konoha rookies" have now become Chuunin, and Tsunade is still the Fifth Hokage.

**Fore notes: **

****The title is taken from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: **"_Memory_ _says, 'I did that.' Pride replies, 'I could not have done that.' Eventually, memory yields_."**

_Italicized phrases_ are a character's private thoughts; and, occasionally, is the nine-tails speaking inside of (and to) Naruto. _Otooto_ means "little brother," or is a way of talking down to someone you consider below you (not always necessarily in a bad way). _Yondaime_ literally means 'the Fourth' (Hokage), and he will be referred to as such until we learn a name xX

Thank you for everyone who gave me advice and characterization points, and special thanks to **Gelfling** for helping me choose a title, and to my muses and only _slightly _obsessive SasuNaru supporters, **Saori****- Hime** and **Saffy** – I would have never have finished any of this with out you!

And for all you Sasuke supporters who've read 233… Naruto did _not_ loose. XP

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**Chapter**** One:**

Sweet Sixteen

_You are so lame _

_You always disappoint me_

_It's kinda like our running joke_

_But it's really not funny._

- Ani DiFranco, _Dilate_

- - - - - -

"Sasuke is the robot dressed in green."

- Googlism

- - - -

"_SASUKE!_"

The enraged roar of the demon-toting blonde echoed throughout the house, piercing every nook and cranny with its annoying tone. Several birds that had been perched in the tree outside the building took flight, vocalizing their distress as they took refuge on a nearby roof. Naruto, oblivious to the noise he was making, stormed from room to room looking for his teammate.

_Where the hell IS that bastard?** I'm** usually the one that sleeps in!_

"Dammit, Sasuke! If you don't show your stupid face right now I swear I'll—"

"Do _what_, exactly?"

Naruto cut himself off in mid-yell and stared, looking much like a bewildered hedgehog in a bright orange jumpsuit. Sasuke stared back, his gaze steady and challenging, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. He _might_ have been intimidating if his hair wasn't still suffering from severe bed-head.

Naruto had to submerge the urge to burst out laughing.

"Oi! Sasuke!" he said through his muffled snickering, "What the hell happened to your head?!"

Sasuke blinked, his narrowed gaze lightening a little. "I beg your pardon?"

"Your head, baka!" Naruto snorted, "It looks like something was gnawing on the back of it! Go look for yourself!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and left the hallway, walking back into his room. Naruto followed, naturally, not caring that he hadn't been invited. He took one glance at the room and sighed. It hadn't changed much since he'd last seen it.

"Don't you ever redecorate? I could have sworn that SAME sock was there back when you were a Genin…" his eyes wandered over the walls and narrowed, "Don't you have a mirror in here? Or is it in the bathroo—"

Naruto was saved from investigating further by Sasuke turning his head so quickly he was surprised it didn't snap right off. The Uchiha's eyes were as dark as ever, but Naruto could tell even from across the room that they were burning with rage.

"_No_, I don't have a mirror, you idiot. Not one in the house. So do me a favor and quit sticking your obnoxious nose into other people's privacy, alright?"

It usually took a lot more than him just being his generally annoying self to make Sasuke loose his cool, and he'd learnt a long time ago that unless the situation called for it, it was best not to push Sasuke over the edge. Doing so usually resulted in a large fight, and regardless of who won, it ended in several months of silence between the two boys. It often took the long, hard work of their fellow young shinobi to get the two on speaking terms again.

Stupid Sasuke. He always had to go and ruin the mood.

It took Naruto another moment to realize that, despite his intrusion and loud wake-up call, Sasuke was not rushing to get ready. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, eyes closed, bare feet braced apart, elbows balanced on his knees, and hands hanging listlessly. He was dressed in what Naruto could only assume he used for nightclothes: a white t-shirt and pair of navy shorts so dark they could have passed for black. The white shirt made his skin look paler than it normally did, which in turn made his hair stark and sharp-edged against his skin. It made him look… dangerous.

"Uh… Sasuke?"

Sasuke's lids lifted slightly, exposing a slit for his eyes to peer through. But he wasn't looking at Naruto; he was looking at the wall beside him.

"What?"

Naruto actually took a moment to wonder briefly what had gotten into the Uchiha teen.

Then he got angry because the idiot had obviously forgotten what today was.

"It's Sakura-chan's birthday, idiot! Ino's been raving on an on about her surprise party all month! How could you possibly forget?! And you already said you'd go, so don't you say you're not coming, Ino sent me all the way over here to get your ass out of bed, and… and—" Naruto couldn't even make himself finish. How could Sasuke be so _stupid_? Sakura-chan's party wouldn't do _anything_ for her if her stupid 'Sasuke-kun' didn't show up! As much as he liked her, and as much as he hated Sasuke for stealing her attention, he still did not approve of _anyone_ making her cry, especially this stupid, rat-faced, wanna-be—

"Ch, I said I'd think about it. I never promised anything."

Sasuke, seemingly satisfied with his answer, flopped backwards onto the bed, feet still on the floor. His left arm was now thrown over his eyes, hiding Naruto from his vision.

Naruto felt like his head was going to explode.

"THINK about it?!" Naruto was beyond angry now, "You idiot! You know how horrible she'll feel if you don't show up! And don't you dare pull that 'I-don't-care-crap' on me, you bastard, because I know you do! You are going and that's the end of it and you better be an angel or I'll make every day as annoying as possible for you! And if you don't get your ass off that bed and get ready to go I'll dress you MYSELF and drag you kicking and screaming all the way to—"

"Naruto, I swear on all the past Hokages that if you don't lower your voice, I'm going to rip your vocal cords out with my bare hands and strangle you with them."

Ah, sarcasm. Well, Sasuke couldn't be _too_ depressed if he retained that much of his usual attitude.

Naruto did stop yelling, but was not about to let Sasuke lie in bed all day feeling sorry for himself when Sakura would be worrying about him all bloody night. Walking over to the bed, he folded his arms over his chest and glared down at the dark-haired boy.

"What the hell has gotten into you these past few weeks?" he demanded, but a bit gentler than usual, "The girls have been going psycho because you've been avoiding everyone, and here I thought it was just you being you trying to avoid us for your training, or to harass Kakashi-sensei or something, and here I find you, damn near noon, still in your bloody pajamas, lying in bed!"

There was a short silence before Sasuke responded to this accusation.

"Would it be too much to ask you to go away?" Sasuke said, eyes still covered by his forearm.

"Yes," came the defiant answer.

"Alright, I tried being polite. How about this: fuck _off_, Naruto."

"You know what—" Naruto had had it up to his ears with Sasuke brushing him off. He was _trying _to be a friend, _trying_ to understand, but no—fucking Sasuke was too _good_ for that. Well, then he'd get what was coming to him!

Naruto had attempted to slam his fist down into Sasuke's jaw, but the hand covering the Uchiha's eyes shot up in a reflex motion. It seized Naruto's wrist, stopping it just an inch from his face. His eyes were calm, cool and without emotion, which just enraged Naruto more as he stared down at his teammate, his arm shaking from the force he'd driven it downward with.

"Once was enough, Naruto," Sasuke said quietly, and let his wrist go.

Naruto pulled it back without even thinking about it and stood up straight, rubbing his wrist. What the hell was Sasuke talking about? He hadn't hit him yet, not even once! But Sasuke gave Naruto no further reason to argue with him, for the boy had already stripped off his white t-shirt and appeared to be rooting for his usual navy top, the one with the his clan symbol embroidered on the back. Naruto glared at the boy's bare back indignantly, as if it insulted him for somehow looking more muscular than his. Naruto sighed and looked away, cursing his stupidity. _He_ knew he was strong, even if he did not look it, and that was all that mattered. Fat lot of good it did for him when he was working to impress, though, and it wasn't that he was particularly bad-looking, either. The truth was, near sixteen he was the splitting image of the Yondaime (though he seemed to be one of the few in Konoha to not have realized it), save the whisker-marks adoring his cheeks and, of course, his height. In four years he'd not gained more than a few measly inches, while even Hinata had managed to grow enough to stay taller than he was. In fact, Konohamaru was nearly his height now, even though he about two generations younger than the blonde.

Sasuke, of course, was easily half a foot taller than he was.

Stupid Sasuke.

Sasuke had apparently found his shirt and managed to do something to his hair to make it fall into place while Naruto had been lost in his thoughts. The next time the blonde bothered to look Sasuke was standing about four feet in front of him, fully dressed and ready. Naruto bleakly noted that he had not bothered to change his shorts.

"Are you going to move, idiot? Or did you wake me up and force me to get dressed so we could stand here and stare at each other all day?"

It was only then that Naruto noticed he was blocking the door. He flushed slightly and jumped out of the way, mumbling about how it was the idiot's own fault for taking so long and that he'd nearly fallen asleep waiting for him. Leave it to Sasuke to make him uncomfortable over absolutely nothing.

Thankfully, Sasuke didn't seem to notice and, rolling his eyes again, stepped out of the room. Naruto followed behind him.

"Eh… Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively as Sasuke closed the front door, then fell in step with him down the deserted street.

"What?"

"Why don't you have any mirrors in your house?"

It was an innocent enough question, but Sasuke seemed quite reluctant to answer. Naruto nearly asked again when Sasuke finally replied, "Some of us don't worry ourselves with vanity, Naruto."

Naruto blinked, and then scowled. "Don't be an idiot, Sasuke! How can you treat your own wounds if you don't even have a mirror lying around!" he yelled at him, "How do you remember what your own face looks like, if you can't even see yourself when you brush your teeth in the morning?"

Sasuke grit his teeth but didn't say anything for a moment.

"It's none of your fucking business, what I do and what I don't do, so stop acting like it is."

Naruto was about to protest this presumption when he was distracted by someone else calling his name.

"Oi, Naruto! Did you fin—Sasuke-kun!" Ino's high-pitched voice pierced his ears as she screeched the Uchiha's name, "We were hoping you would make it!" she added, giving him that million-dollar smile Shikamaru secretly adored. But even Naruto, in all of his naivety, could tell the smiling and enthusiasm was fake.

They had passed through the gates separating the old Uchiha community from the rest of the village and ended up on the main street. Shikamaru was with Ino already, as was Hinata, Neji and Tenten. Neji nodded, acknowledging their presence, but seemed about as thrilled as Sasuke to be there. Naruto had the suspicion that Tenten had dragged Neji out his home similarly to the way he had done to Sasuke. Ino jogged down the street towards Naruto and Sasuke, leaving the other Chuunin behind her.

"Where's Lee?" Naruto asked curiously as she approached. Surely he would be at Sakura-chan's birthday…

"He's keeping Sakura busy, Kiba too," Ino answered quickly, dismissing the subject. "Come on, hurry up you two—" she scowled briefly at the two of them, plodding along, "—she'll know they're up to something sooner or later, we need to get there before she does!"

"Get where, exactly?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Shikamaru's house," the girl replied, getting behind both of the boys and beginning to push them up the street, one hand on each of their backs, "We were going to use my place, but my dad's gone and changed his vacation dates. But Shikamaru's parents will be gone all week on a mission, so we've setup there. Hurry UP, will you?"

"Oi! Don't push!" Naruto complained, speeding up. "And why didn't you ask to use my place? I don't have to worry about parents!"

Ino looked surprised, as if she didn't expect Naruto to be so obvious about his lack of parents.

"Naruto, your place is barely big enough for you, much less a dozen or more of us," Sasuke pointed out, snapping Ino out of her daze. She nodded in agreement, but didn't add anything.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this on and over with."

- - - - - - -

"So… why are we going into the middle of the woods?" Sakura asked with just a little doubt. Her relationship with Lee had done nothing but improve over the years, and she both respected and trusted him as a friend and a fellow shinobi, but she still could not deny Lee was one of the oddest people she knew. The fact that he'd showed up at precisely noon to drag her into the forest on her birthday just confirmed her observation.

"Surprise!" Lee responded for the fourth time, turning to wink at her.

Sakura sighed and gave in to him tugging at her wrist, dragging her further into the trees.

Inwardly, the young Chuunin was slightly unsettled. She didn't expect anything super-special for her birthday, but it'd seemed like the majority of her friends had forgotten it. Ino had left a note card and a small bouquet of flowers on her doorstep that morning wishing her a happy sixteenth, and Lee had appeared half an hour ago to collect her and give her a surprise of some sort, but outside those two, no one had made any effort to recognize her big day. And it wasn't like it was just any old birthday… it was her sweet sixteenth.

_Selfish bastards! How could they forget such an important day in a girl's life_?!

"Almost there!" Lee shouted back to her, flashing a smile.

True to his word, Lee came to a halt just a few minutes later. They were in the center of a small field that Sakura had never seen before. And it was full of…

"Stumps?"

"Yup!" Lee said enthusiastically, prancing from one to the other. Each stump had some degree of injury, ranging from missing the bark to having been reduced to three times their original thickness.

"This is my private, personal training ground!" Lee went on, leaping on top of one of the tallest logs, "This is where I, Rock Lee, have practiced and practiced my taijutsu since I was enrolled in the Academy!"

"That's… nice, Lee," Sakura said, slightly taken aback. Was this the surprise he'd dragged her all the way out here for?

_Better _not_ be! _

"You, Sakura-chan, are the only person besides Gai-sensei to ever step foot on these sacred grounds of dedicated hard work!" he declared proudly, somersaulting down and landing on one knee in front of her with one hand behind his back. Taking her hand with his, he smiled up at her, "Happy Birthday!"

Lee produced the hand behind his back, which was holding a small, bottle-sized piece of wood that looked like it'd been beaten to a pulp—literally. Sakura starred at it for a moment, a bit unsure of what to do. Lee continued to smile, but his gaze faltered slightly. Sakura quickly accepted the piece of wood and his gaze regained its confidence. Leaping to his feet, Lee did his best pose.

"That was my first stump!" he told her proudly. "After years and years of long, hard work and much practice—and sore limbs—I turned the five-foot thick log into this! It is very special to me, for it symbolizes how hard I've worked to become the ninja I am today and I, I… I want you to have it."

The last part of Lee's sentence sounded choked, and looking at him again, Sakura noticed he looked close to tears. Was he _serious_?

"You don't… like it?" Lee asked cautiously, his face falling.

Apparently, he _was_ serious.

"No! I mean, yes, yes! Of course I like it!" Sakura said quickly, smiling and giving a nervous laugh. "It's… very sweet of you, Lee-san. Thank you."

Lee's face lit up again. "You really like it?"

"It's the best birthday present I've gotten all day," she answered truthfully.

This seemed to reinstall Lee's confidence as he did an enthusiastic jump. "Yatta! I'm glad you like it, Sakura-chan!"

_Idiot! Girls want flowers and jewelry, not splintery pieces of wood!! _

Sakura sighed as Lee did a small happy dance. Her birthday was not going so well. She was imagining this day ever since her last birthday, when she had turned fifteen. She had the clear image of how everything was going to go for her perfect sweet sixteen: She would wake up to find a large bouquet of flowers on her doorstep with a note card giving her the location to her surprise party; all of her friends would be there to wish her a happy birthday; even Naruto would be quieter and kind to her; and Sasuke would be there, smiling, waiting for her, ready to confess the feelings they had for one another after all this time…

Sakura sighed as Lee began to reminisce about "old times" as he led her by her free hand back out of the clearing, going at a much slower pace then before. It felt like hours as they trudged along, Sakura muttering phrases like "Really?" and "Then what happened?" just to make it appear she really _was_ listening to everything Lee was telling her. Her Inner Self was beginning to get angry, but she subdued the urge to scream – it was not Lee's fault, after all, that everyone had forgotten her birthday. He had at least _remembered_ and had spent some time planning on what to give her, even if it wasn't what she was exactly hoping for.

"Hey, Sakura!"

The new voice finally pulled Sakura from her thoughts, and she realized with a jolt that they had entered the village again already. The person calling her name was jogging towards the pair, his four-legged companion bounding along his side.

Kiba stopped a few feet in front of them and panted. How long had he been running?

"Oi, Kiba!" Lee greeted him happily, "Are you here to say 'Happy Birthday' to Sakura-chan, too?"

Kiba blinked at Lee, and Akamaru made a funny growling noise that sounded confused. He looked at Sakura, "It's your birthday?"

Sakura sighed. Well, she didn't really expect Kiba, of all people, to remember, but it was not improving her day much. "Yes."

"Huh. Uh, happy birthday, then," he said, "But why I was looking for you – Hinata-chan said you mentioned going to the theatres last week and she said she has the time today, so she sent me off to find and you tell you that she is with Ino, and Ino is at Shikamaru's house, and that you should belt their pronto before we leave."

Sakura blinked. "We?"

"Yeah," Kiba grinned at her, and on the ground Akamaru mimicked him. "We're all going; Hinata, Ino, Shika and me… you're welcome to come too, Lee," he added after a moment.

Sakura stared at him. This sounded awfully like a setup of some sort…

"You mean, like on a triple date?"

Sakura nearly dropped the piece of wood Lee had given her.

Kiba seemed nearly as mortified, and Lee went on to explain his assumption.

"Well, I just thought… since you and Hinata-chan are going, and Ino-chan and Shikamaru are also going, then… you mean I could go with—"

Sensing the impending doom, Sakura cut in, laughing a bit too hysterically, "Oh Kiba didn't mean _that_, he meant as a group of friends, _didn't_ you, Kiba-kun?"

Kiba thought that if looks could kill, he'd have died the moment Sakura locked eyes with him.

"Uh, yeah, more or less…" looking a lot less confident now, Kiba rubbed the back of his head and stole a look at his watch. "So… yeah. I better get going back there. Hope to see you guys soon." and he was gone without so much as a backward glance.

After Kiba was gone, Lee chanced a glance at Sakura. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to…" and trailed off at the look of death she had given him in return. "Right, so, are you going to come?"

Sakura shrugged. "I guess so. I did tell Hinata-chan I would, and if Ino is coming…" she looked down at her current outfit; red overdress, green shorts, tank underneath… what was she thinking? Today was her Sweet Sixteenth!

"I need to go change, though, so…uh… meet you there?" she asked him hopefully.

To her complete surprise, Lee smiled and nodded. "Sure thing! I'll tell them to wait for you!"

Then, very suddenly, Sakura found herself standing alone in the street. Her shoulders slumped with another big sigh as she turned around and trudged towards her home.

- - - - - -

_"Ow! Move over!"_

_"Why the hell is it so dark?"_

_"Whose foot is that?"_

_"Mine, get off!"_

"I thought we were going to the movies?"

_"Shhh!"___

Pat pat pat.

_"Is someone knocking?"_

_"Is that her?"_

_"Shut up and answer it! Shikamaru!"_

"Why _me_?"

Pat pat **pat**.

_"Shikamaru--!"___

"Hai, hai, I'm coming!" Shikamaru shouted and scrambled out from behind the counter and away from the wooden utensil Ino was waving at him. Wandering down the stairs to the door, he opened it. Sakura beamed up at him from the other side.

"Hey, Shikamaru… Kiba told me that--"

"Yeah, yeah, they're upstairs. Come in."

So like Shikamaru. Too lazy to even listen politely while someone finished a sentence.

Sakura followed him into the entryway, which led up a thin staircase up to the second and third levels of the building (otherwise known as the flat his parents owned). It was a really nice house, actually, with huge windows panning the large den area and looking over a wooded block inside the village. It was something more she would have expected from Sasuke's home, which on the other hand was a rather old, traditional home inside the empty gated community that used to be the home of his Clan.

She had changed clothes before coming over, and was now clad in light blue dress that came to a clean stop just above her knees. Spaghetti straps held it up over her shoulders, and showed just enough skin to make her look pretty but not advertising. Her hair, which was still cut at shoulder length, fell freely around her shoulders without the hiate-ete around her head to hold it in place. White, small-heeled shoes adorned her feet and clicked softly as she made her way up the stairs.

Shikamaru had already reached the top and disappeared down the hall.

Picking up her pace, Sakura clicked up the stairs—she hadn't been inside of Shikamaru's house more then once or twice, and getting lost was a good possibility. Reaching the top, Sakura wandered into the first room down the hall and was met with an empty den. It was lit with an orange glow because of the setting sun shining through the windows, but otherwise deserted.

"Shikamaru?"

Several things happened next in very short succession; a large assortment of her friends leaped out from behind various obstacles and furniture, Naruto, Lee and Ino shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at the top of their lungs, and Lee nearly tackled her with a hug. Sakura's hair stood up at the jolt of surprise and she nearly fell over as Lee righted himself and told her how happy he was for her now that she was sixteen and hoped she had the best day ever and if there was ANYTHING he could do for her then to just let hi—

"Lee, LEE! Please! Let her breathe!"

_Thank you,_ Sakura's eyes said to Ino, who shooed Lee away with her wooden spoon. Ino beamed at her. "Surprise!"

"I… wow," Sakura looked happily surprised, and just smiled because she wasn't sure how to properly react. Just an hour ago she had been moping about how no one loved her enough to remember her birthday, and now she was standing in a room full of them for an apparent surprise party. Ino, Lee and Naruto had made themselves obvious enough, and looking around she was able to spot Hinata, Kiba, Ten-ten, Neji, Chouji, Shikamaru, and… Sakura's eyes grew wide as she spotted a familiar dark figure hiding the back of the room.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke braced himself for what he knew was coming. Sure enough, not five seconds after the squeal, thin arms laced around his neck and Sakura attached herself to him with a secure squeeze.

_Thou shall not kill, thou shall not kill—good god, she's heavy._

He wanted to tell her to get off. He wanted to push her away and tell her to grow up. Looks of certain death from Ino, Lee and Naruto met him over her shoulder as she continued to molest him. He decided just to glower at Naruto instead, who smiled back at him in return.

Finally, the pressure decreased and Sakura's arms slipped down and rested on his shoulders as she beamed up at him. "I'm so happy you came."

Sasuke tried to smile. He really did. All he managed to do, though, was remove his scowl. "I'll alert the media."

She apparently took his sarcasm as a good thing, because she smiled even wider than before and—what the HELL was _that?_

Sakura had stood up on her tiptoes so she could reach, and kissed him lightly on the cheek which involuntarily made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, then quickly turned away and wove her way over between Ino and Hinata, leaving Sasuke standing there, staring, and quite unsure of just _how_ to react to that. Grimacing, he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and noticed Naruto glaring at him from across the room. The grimace vanished and was replaced with an intended smirk, to which Naruto scowled. Sasuke withheld the extremely immature urge to stick his tongue out at Naruto.

"I'm surprised you came."

Sasuke turned around. Kiba was standing there, apparently abandoned by Hinata for the time being. "So am I."

Grinning at him with teeth that could rival Naruto's, Kiba tossed Sasuke something, which Sasuke caught on reflex. Eyes studied the bottle critically; Sasuke looked back at Kiba questioningly.

Kiba just continued to grin at him. "Loosen up a bit for once, okay?"

Sasuke was beginning to feel like this was less a surprise party for Sakura and more of a setup for him. The bottle of sake in his palm was cool, not refrigerator-cold but still below room temperature. He watched as the dog-tamer slowly but surely distributed the rest of the bottles around the room to whoever would take them. Sasuke was just setting his bottle down on a nondescript table to ignore when a familiar voice assaulted his senses.

"Oi, oi! If he doesn't want it, I'll take it!"

Naruto, it seemed, was making good use of Neji's generosity.

Gripping the bottle tightly in his hand, his wrist changed its mind and offhandedly decided not to abandon its hostage quite yet.

- - - - -

Sasuke hadn't tasted alcohol in a few months, and that was enough to convince his taste buds that it was nothing but acidy piss-water that was best to be avoided. It was hard to get his pride to agree when the other males in the room, especially a certain blonde, all seemed quite guiltless in their spoiling.

By the end of the first hour, the cake had been divided and digested, the cola was all but gone, and Neji, Sakura and Lee were the only souls in the room to have yet touched the sake (Kiba had actually gotten Hinata to try some, and she was still taking slow, shy sips out of her bottle in the corner of the room). In the events, Naruto had gotten himself in a slightly-stupider-then-usual state, Ino was giggling even more then usual, and Kiba had misplaced Hinata when he had gotten lost under the coffee table.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and focused on Sasuke, slowly raising an accusing finger in the Uchiha's direction. "Oi," he said slowly, his voice tinged with a slight slur, "When did you kage-bunshin?" 

"Hey!" Ino yelped, her voice slightly higher than usual, "Leave Sasuke_hic_kun alone."

"You two are pathetic," Shikamaru mumbled, rolling his eyes. Shikamaru, it appeared, was unusually immune to the effects of alcohol. He'd drunk twice as much as Naruto without so much as a twitch, and his voice lacked both the smell of sake and the accompanied slur.

Ino raised and eyebrow at him before sauntering over and sitting on his lap; Shikamaru had the dignity to look completely horrified at this development.

"Come on, Shikamaru" she purred, waving the wooden spoon dangerously close to his face, then poked him in the nose with it. "Where's your party-face, hm?"

Now even the esteemed Uchiha had a slight grin on his face.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" Kiba demanded, upside-down on the floor looking up at Sasuke. "You still have half a bottle to go, you know."

Sasuke grimaced and looked at the offending bottle, which was sitting right where he left it on the table, starring back at him mockingly. He already felt dazed. Finishing off the bottle, even if it was only his first, did not seem like a good idea.

But then again, Naruto had already finished his third.

"Naruto, what are you doing? Put that back!"

Sakura had caught Naruto trying to steal another bottle of sake out of the cupboard and promptly shooed him away. "Its enough to have the normally loud, obnoxious Naruto at my party, I don't need a _drunken,_ loud, obnoxious Naruto at my party! Shoo!"

"But that last bottle was lookin' at me funny!" Naruto protested. "I need to drink it before it tries something!"

Sasuke grabbed his bottle off the table and took the rest of the contents in one swing. Damned Naruto.

"That's the spirit," Kiba praised from under the table. "Hey, Hinata!"

"I am _not_ Hinata," Neji said, trying to sound somewhat dignified.

"Na?" Kiba sounded confused and came out from under the table, sat up on the floor and stared at the offending teenager. Sure enough, it was Neji who was propped up against the wall, looking quite disgusted with Kiba's drunken state. "Shit, you're right. All you damn Hyuuga look that same. OI, HINATA!"

Sasuke tossed the empty bottle into the nearest bin, turning his attention back to the other side of the couch, where Shikamaru had managed to get rid of Ino somehow while he wasn't paying attention. "Aren't your parents going to wonder where their stash of sake went?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Hopefully Naruto will be able to con Jiraiya into replacing it. That's the 'plan' anyway."

"And if he can't?"

Shikamaru gave him a look. "I'll improvise. I'm the genius, remember?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So is that how you got rid of Ino, then? With your genius?"

Shikamaru gave him a grin that could be described as nothing less than predatory. "When did I say I wanted to get rid of her? She went to the bathroom."

Sasuke raised the other eyebrow and almost inquired further… then decided he didn't want to know and let the subject drop.

Leaning back, Sasuke let his eyelids droop slightly. Though he wasn't drunk—yet—he still had a warm, fuzzy feeling in the back of his throat and he was getting tired. He watched as Naruto ran past, chasing after Sakura, and wondered where the hell the blonde packed away all of his energy. It was like dealing with a large five-year old; he kept going and going and going…

"Ahhh! Sakura-chan! Give it BACK!"

"No! Naruto, get lost! You've had enough!"

"It's not for me, it's for Kiba!"

"He's had more than you!"

"Then it's for Lee!"

"Lee can't d—dammit, Naruto, I said NO!"

…and going and going. Just listening to Naruto was making him more tired.

_Great, now I sound like Shikamaru_.

Ino had reappeared from the bathroom and hit Naruto on the back of his head with her spoon, telling him that if he drank anything other than water for the rest of the night she'd shove it somewhere very uncomfortable. Grumbling, Naruto finally surrendered the last bottle of sake to Sakura and came plodding over to the couch, flopping down between Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"Women," he muttered.

"Thinking of changing lanes?" Shikamaru asked, grinning at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Why can't they just mind their own business? I can drink sake if I want to drink sake!"

"Even if you're still under aged and therefore illegal," Sasuke added mockingly.

"Not to mention already drunk to the point that you're seeing multiple Sasukes," Shikamaru put in.

"Damn right," said Naruto.

Shikamaru laughed. "It's got to be getting cold in Hell when a man can be bullied by a woman."

"Well, remember he is still a fair few inches shorter then her…" Sasuke went on.

"…more like half a foot…" Shikamaru corrected him.

"And now the men are picking on me," Naruto said gloomily, "Story of my life."

"What do you expect? Even Konohamaru is going to be taller than you," Sasuke said, wearing a wicked grin. "Face it, Naruto: you're going to be looking up to people all your life."

"Except when I knock your sorry ass on the ground, you mean," Naruto shot back childishly.

"I'd like to see you try."

Naruto started to get up, but Shikamaru dragged him back down by the sleeve.

"I really don't care if you two turn this party into another one of your '_I hate you!_' - '_But I hate you more!_' explosions, but you are NOT doing it in my house."

Naruto and Sasuke both stared at him.

Shikamaru scowled. "You're both still acting like you're twelve, for pete's sake."

Naruto looked back at Sasuke, whose eyes met his and Naruto grinned at him. It was a natural smile, nothing sarcastic or nasty about it. Then something strange happened; Sasuke felt himself smile slightly back.

The moment ended, however, when Sakura decided she could fit in the small space between Naruto and Sasuke. She scooted closer to Sasuke muttering, "Not too close to Naruto," and turned her head away from him, completely blocking out herself and Sasuke from Naruto's view.

Sakura didn't notice Naruto get up and leave. Sasuke did, and he stopped smiling.

"Are you having a good time, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shrugged. He had been having a good time a minute ago, but she had effectively ruined that. It might have been _her_ birthday party, but he wasn't here for her.

Sakura translated his answer as an affirmative and smiled lovingly at him. "I've hardly seen you lately. I mean, the last few years were understandable, but the past couple of months you've seemed so distant. Is everything okay?"

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. Why, of all people, did Sakura try to pry these things out of him? If he didn't feel like socializing, she automatically assumed something was wrong, and even when you told her you were fine she still didn't believe you and would go poke and stab and pry until it made you bleed.

'_You are going and that's the end of it and you better be an angel or I'll make every day as annoying as possible for you!_'

Naruto's voice reverberated silently in his head as he remembered the blonde's threats from the morning. Cursing his teammate mentally, Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Sakura, who was beaming worriedly at him.

"I'm fine, Sakura. I just needed a couple of weeks to myself. I'll be around more often now, okay?"

Sakura looked shocked and thrilled. Sasuke had _never_ said that much to her in one sentence that wasn't chiding or reprimanding.

Sasuke instantly regretted his choice of words when Sakura, confidence renewed, repositioned herself directly next to him on the couch (Sasuke liked his personal space and being squished by anyone – girls, boys, whoever – was enough to make him want to explode) and tilted her head sideways so it dropped on his shoulder. His body twisted, going slightly rigid as it tried to maneuver itself away from her, but he was trapped between her and the arm of the couch. His eyes searched the room for something – _anything_ to use as an excuse to leave, but everyone else was well occupied and Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Sakura was saying. "We all worry so much about you, Sasuke-kun. You have a lot of people who care about you, we don't want to annoy you, we just want to make sure that you're okay, and that you know we're here for you if you need us. Even Naruto cares about you, even if he'd never admit it and says he hates you all the time. He'd do anything for you… and… so would I."

_Fuck, she's nuts. If I ever needed help, **now** is the time…_

"You know that, right, Sasuke-kun? You know we're all here for you. That I'm here for you…"

_I am going to **kill** you, Naruto…_

"…Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke forced a normal expression and looked over at her with disinterest. She was still smiling hopefully, awaiting some sort of reply.

"Yeah," was all he said.

It must have been enough, because Sakura cuddled even _closer_ to him and—she better not _dare_ put her hand near his, or he'd cut it off—he couldn't _believe_ she was holding his hand!

"I really missed you, Sasuke-kun," she said and squeezed his hand and buried her face in his shoulder.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore.

He stood up abruptly, pulling his hand away forcefully.

"Sasuke-ku—"

Sasuke glared at her. His words spat out like acid, and he didn't bother to tone himself down any. "Will you cut it out?"

Sakura was beginning to look panicky. "Sasuke-kun… what's—"

"Wrong?" Sasuke finished for her, his voice rising slightly as he stood over her. "Do you really want to know?"

"Well, yes, of cours—"

She asked for it.

"_You_ are. You're what's wrong," he snapped immediately, cutting her off once more. "That's all this is about, you this, you that, Sasuke-kun _this_, Sasuke-kun _that_. I really wish you would fucking stop calling me that! Or have you purposely ignored that fact that I never give you cute little nicknames? I don't like you, Sakura-_chan, _I never _have_, I never _will_, and I wouldn't have spent so much as one minute in your company if I hadn't been forced into a fucking squad with you, and the only reason I'm _at_ your stupid birthday party is because that fucking moron who you _ignore_ and insult and hate so much cared enough about _you_ to force me out of my house!"

Sakura looked like she was about to cry. "But Sasuke-kun…"

"I told you to **STOP** calling me that!" By now, Sasuke had drawn the attention of everyone in the house, even Kiba, who was watching from the safety of the looming coffee table. "You don't get it, do you? Take a clue from the Ino pig and leave me the fuck alone, alright? All you do is whine, panic, fawn and squeak, and it's fucking annoying! You have no _talent_, no ambition, no _clue _about anything and you think that _just _because I've had to put up with you all these years that you're going to get your way and you're fucking wrong! I can't even _stand_ you anymore! I'd rather be forced to endure Naruto then you!"

Normally, Naruto would have been happy to hear those words.

Save for when they were directed at Sakura.

"Sasuke, what the hel—" he began, but Sasuke cut him off with a glare.

"Don't even try it," he snarled, looking at Naruto like he was ready to kill him. "I wouldn't even _be_ here if it weren't for you. Don't kid yourself, Naruto, you're only a fraction more useful then she is, and that's _not_ saying much."

Naruto was stunned speechless. He wasn't even aware his mouth was hanging open. Nobody else dared say a word.

"You're all fucking useless," Sasuke spat, glaring at the lot of them, "And you can all go to hell."

The door Sasuke slammed on his way out closed so hard the window broke.

"Asshole," Shikamaru muttered.

* * *

A/N: Ooooh, so mean. _So mean_. You know it was bound to happen eventually, don't look so surprised. _:::cheers for Sasuke:::_


	2. Asking Too Much

**Title: **Memory Yields

**Author:** JaD

**Email: **jad**at**yondaime**dot**net

**Website:** baka**dot**yondaime**dot**net

**Rating:** R

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Kudos, Kishimoto!

**Fore notes:** _For full introduction, see **Chapter One**._

Is it me, or is every chapter beginning with Naruto screaming at Sasuke? I need to fix that…

Thanks again to Sao-babe for her awesome editing skills; because I'm too lazy to do it myself. _:::licks:::_

**REVIEWERS:**

**ghostninja85** - There is a specific reason. I might actually reveal that in a prologue (if I ever get around to writing it). Otherwise... well, you might be forever wondering -.

**kurokioku** - Soon enough. I like to keep it as canon as possible, but I won't keep you waiting long.

**Katie** - Sasuke's harsh. It's a fact of life. She put herself up for hurt and disappointment for pursuing someone like him P

**Az-Strawberry** - You can't believe Sasuke did that? Remember, this is /_Sasuke_/. Don't feel sorry for Naruto - feel sorry for Sasuke. Naruto does ;

**xKaelynx** - He DOES look like Hinata XDDD

**stet**- No no bashing, ever. ; I actually don't hate Sakura, especially with her progress in the recent manga chapters (if you read it). I was just being realistic. Sasuke's the only one who really does any Sakura-bashing in this fic P

**_Also_,** before anyone bites my head off or attempts to flame, there is nice dose of _**NaruSaku**_ in this chapter… but yet the fic is still labeled _**SasuNaru**_. Huh. Think about it for a while.

- - -

**II : Asking Too Much**

_I want somebody who sees the pointlessness, and still keeps their purpose in mind;  
__I want somebody who has a tortured soul, some of the time;  
__I want somebody who will either put out for me, or put me out of misery;  
__Or maybe just put it all to words and make me go, you know,  
__I never heard it put that way;  
make me go, what did you just say?_  
_I want someone who's not afraid of me, or anyone else;  
__In other words, I want someone who's not afraid of themself.  
__Do you think I'm asking too much?  
_**- Ani DiFranco, _Asking Too Much_**

"Was I here before? Uh-oh, I'm not _still_ here, am I? Well anyone can _SEE_ that! Am I here anywhere _else?_"  
**- Bill Watterson, _Calvin and Hobbes_**

- - - -

"Sasuke, you sonofabitch!"

Naruto's shout was lost to the darkness. By the time he had tore down the stairs, ignored the broken window in the door as he dashed through it, and stumbled out onto the street, Sasuke was no where in sight.

He was not getting off _that_ easy.

Naruto wasted no time in taking off at a run, easily twice as fast as any normal human being due to years of intense training as a shinobi; perhaps thrice as fast now, simply because he was so angry. He could still see the look of frozen horror on Sakura-chan's face, the way her pretty features broke into an emotional puddle of tears and hysteria at Sasuke's uncalled-for cruelty.

Sasuke was going to _pay_.

Sasuke, however, knew he was going to be followed, and did not stop until he reached his home. Slamming (and after a second thought, locking) his front door, he stormed across the main threshold of the house, ignoring the echoes of angry shouts and the hammering sounded from his porch. Assuming—no, _knowing_—that Naruto would be too dense to find another way inside to assault him, Sasuke wandered into his room and flopped on the bed, draping one forearm over his eyes as he had done earlier that day. He could hardly hear the idiot from his safe haven… the insults and threats were nothing but a dull vibration coming from the front of the house. Soon, Naruto would get sick of yelling, turn from angry to upset, get depressed and leave.

Sasuke decided not to care.

**CRASH!**

Apparently, Naruto had other plans.

The door managed to hang onto its hinges, but only barely as it swung open, revealing a _very_ ruffled teenager with baby blue eyes narrowed dangerously. Sasuke groaned inwardly but did not move as the heavy footsteps drew nearer, their owner oddly quiet as he stalked down his target. Outside his open bedroom the footsteps stopped abruptly. Sasuke didn't bother to remove his arm, and his voice was mocking as he spoke.

"If I have to tell you to fuck off once more today, dobe..."

Maybe if Sasuke had been looking, he would have had time to block. As it was, Naruto moved so fast that by the time the sound caught up for Sasuke to hear it, he'd already been slammed into the nearest wall by his neck.

"Shut the _fuck_ up, you asshole, and listen to me," Naruto's eyes were unnaturally dark, Sasuke noted with bored eyes, so much like… "Is it asking too much from you, the great heir to the Uchiha, to be civil for a COUPLE of hours? Just _once_ you needed to behave, just one _night_ that you needed to stop being such a dimwitted prick and act like a normal human being. _Is that asking too much?!"_

Despite being pinned involuntarily to the wall, Sasuke looked rather relaxed. "Define _normal_."

Naruto glared.

"Someone who can _feel_," he snapped, his voice lowering significantly but losing none of its malice. "…someone who is aware that other people have feelings. Someone completely not like you."

Sasuke smirked lazily at him. "Then what did you expect?"

"An _effort!_"

"Then you were setting yourself up for disappointment. I don't put effort into socializing," Sasuke sneered back at him, grasping his wrist and pulling it free of his collar. "You should be happy, anyway. Maybe _now_ she'll realize once and for all I don't want anything to do with her and she'll turn to you as runner-up."

Naruto didn't give Sasuke the chance to block this time, either, because he hit him hard and on target right in the jaw. The back of Sasuke's head hit the wall behind him with a sharp _thwack_ and his vision blurred for a moment, going black around the edges and threatening to engulf him before finally returning to normal. Vision rgained, he noticed Naruto had abandoned holding him up against the wall and retreated to the bed, sitting on it similarly to the way he had this morning, head down and looking lost.

"You don't deserve her anymore then I do. Stop acting like you're too good for her; like you're too good for _me_."

Flexing his sore jaw, Sasuke idly wondered if he deserved that. "I _am_ too good for you."

Naruto's next statement was said viciously, injected with more venom then he thought he could merge with his voice.

"I'm not too good for your brother."

Sasuke's eyes turned red without him even realizing it as he launched himself at Naruto, returning the hit. Naruto blocked it and threw him sideways, rolling them both off the bed and onto the floor. Sasuke managed to throw his weight in mid-fall, so that Naruto ended up beneath him when they hit the ground. Eyes wide and blinded with rage, he slammed an elbow down into the soft flesh of Naruto's neck, making the blonde gag dangerously as his insides took the enormous amount of pain and swallowed it. Kicking up, Naruto managed to throw Sasuke off of him and scramble to his knees. Sasuke flipped over as he landed, saving his head from smacking into the ground, taking the blow to his shoulder instead.

Naruto sighed, closed his eyes and sulked back to the floor, resting on his forelegs. Why did it always come to this? Sometimes they got along fine; sometimes they seemed like friends, almost like… brothers.

No matter what Naruto did, he could never hold onto that feeling.

Sensing the slight ease in atmosphere, Sasuke also relaxed and sat up, but kept his gaze fixed on Naruto.

"Leave."

"Not until you tell me who shoved that pole up your rear-end," Naruto opened his eyes and stared back in time to see Sasuke blink.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You," the blonde pulled his legs out from under him, stretching them out. His feet went just past Sasuke's knees as he leaned back against the bed behind him. "You were improving—you were in a better mood everyday. You were hanging out, you were _smiling_—you were acting like you did when I first met you – arrogant and like a prick, but at least alive. Then you just stopped. What the hell happened to you? You're acting just like you did back then. Before you—"

Sasuke hissed before Naruto could finish, cutting him off and putting his hands on his own knees. "That has _nothing_ to do with this."

"Then what—?"

"None of your fucking business."

"Do you really try this hard to be a jerk, or does it just come naturally for you?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto cut him off before he could.

"You're a hard person to care about, you really are."

"Don't you ever wonder if it's really worth it sometimes?"

"No."

Sasuke blinked again.

"Why?"

"Because," Naruto shrugged and looked to the side, as if it were unimportant, "I don't."

Stubborn idiot, as always.

"Your hands are bleeding," Sasuke noted dully.

"They had a disagreement with your door."

"It was locked for a reason."

"To get busted open, apparently."

Sasuke didn't respond immediately. He glared at the floor, his eyes hidden in shadow, before pushing up off the ground and standing over Naruto.

"You better be gone when I get out."

Naruto was about to ask out of _where_ when Sasuke answered him by going into the bathroom and closing the door. Naruto could hear him start the shower and after a moment, a solid 'click' as Sasuke locked the door.

_Asshole_.

Naruto had only been patient enough to stare at Sasuke's bathroom door for about ten minutes before finally getting angry, kicking the door once for good measure, and stomping out of the house. To make matters worse, it started raining as he trotted home and thoroughly soaking him by the time he came to his apartment.

Figured.

- - -

_**CRACK!**_

Sasuke awoke with a start as the thunder cracked outside his window, followed by a long, low and yet dauntingly loud rumble of noise. He sat upright quickly, muscles tense, his eyes glowing red orbs in the darkness. His Sharingan, fully developed four years ago, now displayed three marks rotating around his pupil.

Breathing heavily, he threw himself out of bed and bolted from the room.

Somehow his subconscious managed to avoid the broken glass on his way out, remnants of Naruto's visit earlier that evening. It was raining heavily outside, the storm clouds obscuring the moon and making it pitch black in the abandoned Uchiha town. Sasuke ran on from pure memory; he knew every corner, every curb, every stone that made up these streets, and could have found his way if he had been blind. He continued outside the walls of the Uchiha community, running down the familiar, dimly-lit streets of his village, ignoring everything except the path of his feet.

It did not take long to reach his destination. He dashed up the stairs with such force he could feel his knees strain from the pressure and the boards under his feet creaked dangerously.

Almost there…

**SLAM!**

Sasuke pounded both of his fists against the door. The wood rattled under his attack, striking back at his fists with stiff splinters, shoving them under his skin. Sasuke ignored the pain and continued to bang on the door, shouting out incoherently. He hit the door one last time with his left fist, throwing his whole body at the door, and slowly slid down, coming to a huddle at the bottom of the door. Invisible tears were streaming along the curve of his cheeks, mixing with the rain spilling down his face from his soaked hair. He slammed his left hand, palm open, on the door in a last desperate attempt to drive the pain away.

The door opened so suddenly that Sasuke fell through it, hitting the matt inside with his upper body. Light streamed out into the darkness from within the apartment, outlining a short, spiky-haired figure.

"Sasuke?" said the confused but familiar voice. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Naruto stared in disbelief as the frantic Sasuke fell unconscious without a word.

"…Sasuke?"

Naruto shivered as the wind blew in some of the rain, which was falling from the sky with the power of a waterfall. _What the fuck? _

- - -

Sasuke woke up feeling more exhausted then he had in years. His head ached, his chest ached, his legs ached—hell, even his fingertips were pulsating. His body temperature seemed to be on high, because even in the cold night air his face felt hot. He tried to push himself up on his elbows, but the muscles in his arm wouldn't have it. They shuddered violently as he put weight on them and they collapsed, forcing him to flop back onto the bed.

Wait. _Bed?_

Sasuke took a moment to gather his surroundings. This was not his bed. No, it smelled different… not a bad smell, and not alien—but not his, either. His hands, which he could feel now were considerably more sore than the rest of him, were bandaged neatly. There was also a cool rag draped over his forehead. The material was soft and the cold felt good against his throbbing head; but there was one more thing Sasuke noticed that was different about him.

His clothes were missing.

He wasn't exactly exposed (he did have a couple layers of sheets covering him) but he was in fact, very nude… and dry and soft and actually quite comfortable when he stopped to think about it. He tried to remember what had happened before he ended up here, what he had been doing before he passed out… where the hell was he?

"So, you're finally awake."

Oh.

Sasuke's eyes drifted to his right, where Naruto was propped up on the windowsill, slurping noodles from a cup of instant ramen. He was dressed in red shorts and a black t-shirt with an orange spiral on the front, tawny hair ruffled messily and droopy blues only half-awake.

Naruto, perfectly alive and well… and eating ramen like nothing had happened.

Sasuke just stared.

"Sorry about your clothes, but," Naruto paused to swallow, "You were soaked to the skin and shivering like mad, and you had a fever. I wanted to leave you there, outside my door to die, but Sakura-chan would have had my head."

Sasuke felt his head throb again and winced. A fever… well, that made sense; that was why he felt so hot.

"Your clothes are drying by the heater," Naruto went on, shoving more ramen in his mouth, "And then I had to dry _you_ before throwing you in my bed. I hope you take great pride in the fact that you've denied me any decent sleep tonight."

"What happened to my hands?"

Naruto looked at him. It was dark, but he could have sworn the blonde was gawking. "Don't you remember?"

Sasuke thought on that. "Not… quite…"

Naruto sighed and sat back against the window frame. "Then let me refresh your memory. It was 1 a.m. I was in my bed, having a nice, peaceful sleep when _WHAM_!" Naruto moved his arms in a waving motion to give his speech a theatrical touch. "Some crazed bastard starts screaming and banging on my door like a lunatic! By the time I roll out of bed and get to the door to open it, the said bastard is lying in a crumpled heap on my doorstep, and full on faints halfway into my apartment!"

Sasuke said nothing to this, but his memories slowly began to return. Waking up in a panic… running through the dark and the rain… charging up the stairs…

"And in banging on my poor old mistreated door, the said bastard managed to impale his hands with about fifty large splinters, all of which were lodged deep into his skin!" Naruto stopped yelling and took a breath, giving him what he assumed in the darkness was a glare. "So I decided that, after undressing and drying you, putting you in my bed and taking care of your stupid fever, that I should probably pull them out before you woke up and had a chance to complain about them. _That_ is why your hands are bandaged, you stupid, stupid, crazed—did I mention stupid?—lunatic bastard!"

It grew quiet in the room while Sasuke took in all of this information, save for Naruto's heavy breathing. He did remember all of it now, and even why he'd come… It had seemed so realistic. So very, very real, like many of his nightmares were. Real enough to make him believe it and to have him come running all the way to Naruto's apartment—just to prove that it was real.

But it wasn't.

Naruto was alive. In fact, Naruto was doing better then he was. Just sitting there, eating ramen, and yelling at him for being a stupid bastard.

Then Sasuke did the last thing Naruto could have expected him to do. He started laughing.

Naruto stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to do. He'd never heard Sasuke laugh before. He'd seen him smirk (how that fucking smirk annoyed him), he'd seen him give Sakura-chan false smiles of reassurance, then there was that creepy-evil ku-ku-ku laugh he'd adopted from the snake bastard on a temporary lapse—but that really didn't count, and he'd even heard him snicker on the rare occasion. But he'd never heard the boy really _laugh_ before.

"What the hell is so funny?!" Naruto demanded, throwing his empty ramen cup to the side, chopsticks and all. "Unappreciative jerk! I should have let you sit out there and die!"

Sasuke stopped laughing when Naruto yelled out, but he was still smiling. "You really are an idiot, aren't you, Naruto?"

That was the last straw.

Naruto launched himself at Sasuke, landing on the unprepared Uchiha with full force, fists aimed at his head. "Don't call me an idiot, you fucking selfish bastard! How dare you! I should have left you out there for Sakura-chan to find and cry over! Fuck you and your stupid laughing! I hope that fever kills you!"

Sasuke didn't move when Naruto leaped at him, but he did bring one arm up to block Naruto's punch, stopping it just inches from his face. Naruto, crouched over him, stared down at him in rage.

Sasuke was _still_ smiling.

"Don't worry," the dark-haired boy said lightly. "Thanks to you, it won't."

"ARG!" Naruto pushed himself off Sasuke, falling off to his side and sitting back on his heels. He glared at the Uchiha teen, half angry and half confused. Why the fuck was that bastard smiling at him?!

Sasuke studied his injured hand for a moment and then held it out to Naruto, his bandaged palm open and asking for assistance.

"I hate you sometimes," Naruto mumbled, "I really do."

Naruto took his hand gently and helped hoist Sasuke into a sitting position, the sheets falling away from his chest as he sat up, exposing the bare flesh. It was cold in the room, but Sasuke did not shiver, for the fever was still keeping him warm. Sasuke propped himself up with two pillows, and then leant his weight back against the headboard. The cloth on his head slowly peeled off and fell into his lap, sinking the sheet between his crossed legs. Sasuke picked it up and looked at it, then eyed Naruto critically.

"When did you become such a good mother?"

"Fuck you, and fuck your stupid smile."

Naruto's anger, at least, seemed to be calming down, though his attitude remained. "Remember that time I got sick last year? I got some stupid bug on a mission while in Earth country. Sakura-chan was over here everyday for a week nursing me back to health. I just remembered some of the things she did, and you're damn lucky I did, too."

"I thought Shikamaru was the one taking care of you," Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Shikamaru might be able to cook, be he couldn't care for a rock without killing it. He was here, but Sakura was the one taking care of me."

"Did she strip your clothes off and pat you dry as well?"

"I think this is the fourth time I'm going to tell you that I should have left you out there to freeze to death."

"Well, you didn't. And, ah …" Sasuke paused, looking and sounding very much like Kakashi and his smirk quirking into something that was not quite a frown. "…I appreciate it."

Naruto just looked at him, then shrugged and turned away. "Whatever. Like I said, Sakura-chan would have murdered me and Kakashi-sensei would have brought me back to life just to kill me again for letting his favorite pupil die from hypothermia."

Sasuke looked at the window Naruto had been sitting by. It was too dark to see out, and he couldn't tell if the noise outside was just wind or rain.

"Is it still raining?"

"Yeah," said Naruto. "Like crazy. It's been like that all night."

They were both quiet for a moment. Then Naruto looked back at Sasuke.

"Now that you're awake and obviously going to live… what _were_ you doing banging on my door and shouting my name in the middle of the night?"

"…"

_Shit_.

Sasuke wasn't sure what to tell him. How would Naruto react to the truth?

Sasuke sighed as Naruto stared at him persistently, waiting for an answer. The idiot probably wouldn't even believe him if he told him.

"It's… complicated. Just forget it for now, okay?"

Sasuke was both surprised and relieved when Naruto, after staring at him for a few extra moments, shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, whatever."

Somewhat relieved, Sasuke took to studying Naruto. The usually energetic blonde was still sitting beside him, drooping slightly in what Sasuke could only guess was exhaustion. He shouldn't have been surprised that Naruto would take care of him like he did, but it still felt so weird to have it happen.

"I should probably go," Sasuke finally said, and began to move.

"Are you insane?" Naruto looked bewildered. "Your clothes are still wet!"

"I'll borrow some of yours."

"It's pouring outside!"

"You have an umbrella, don't you?"

"You've already got a fever!"

"I thought you didn't care?"

"I don't!"

Sasuke couldn't help but look a little bemused. "You could just ask me to stay, you know."

Naruto opened his mouth and stopped, closed it and glared at him before speaking again. "You could just stay, you bastard."

It was his own way of saying he wanted company, and lucky for Naruto, Sasuke caught it. "Yeah, alright, but I get the bed."

"_What?!_ It's MY bed!"

"I thought I was the sick one here?"

"But—but—it's still MY bed!"

"You can sleep on the couch."

"I don't have a couch!"

"Then take the floor."

"The hell I will!"

"You have a better idea?"

Naruto glared at him, fully roused and irritated once more, "Yeah. Scoot over."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said _scoot_," Naruto made hand motions for emphasis, "If you're going to use my bed, you're at least going to share."

- - -

Upon awakening, Naruto had not wanted to leave Sasuke alone. Not that he was worried, or anything – he was more concerned about Sasuke breaking something or stealing his ramen then dying from a cold. He had almost woken the boy up at noon, but Sasuke had seemed to have a rough night—not that he cared, or anything—so Naruto had decided to let him sleep in. He would probably be gone when Naruto got home anyway… he honestly would have stayed, but he had important matters left unattended from the night before.

Grabbing the small box off the counter, Naruto shoved it in his pocket and trotted outside.

Sakura's home wasn't too far from his apartment, but it was still a fair walk. Naruto had plenty of time to fiddle with ideas: whether he should stay and knock, hand it to her personally, or perhaps knock and run away, leaving it at her doorstep. The latter was beginning to look more and more appeasing as he approached her block and the knot in his stomach wove tighter.

Knock knock knock.

A grown woman in her late forties opened the door, looking aged but still attractive. Bright green eyes, he thought, just like…

"What do _you_ want?" she snapped.

Naruto blinked and cleared his throat. "Is Sakura-chan home?"

"Yes, but she doesn't want to speak with anyone. Some friends you are, making her cry on her birthday. It was _you_, wasn't it? What did you do this time?"

Naruto looked startled. "I—"

"Naruto!"

Naruto almost fell over with relief as Sakura's familiar face appeared from behind her mother.

"Mother, it's alright, Naruto didn't do anything… really…"

Naruto filed away the memory of Sakura defending him for later as her mother 'hmphed' and moved from the doorway, allowing Sakura to step outside and close the door behind her.

"Hi," he said uneasily.

When Sakura looked up at him, his heart immediately sunk. She was smiling, but just barely and her eyes were still tinted red.

Had she been crying all day?

"Naruto… thank you for coming last night… I…" she faltered slightly, looking at the ground before finishing, "I don't blame you for what happened."

Naruto, now at a complete loss for words, stared and fumbled idly with the box in his pocket.

Sakura took a moment to recover before she noticed the awkward silence, "So… um… yes, thank you for coming last night."

She reached for the door handle behind her but Naruto caught her wrist, gently, "Wait—Sakura, I need to—I mean, last night, I totally forgot—oh, just take it."

Naruto shoved the box in her hand and let her wrist go quickly, not sure if he should be expecting a rebound for it.

Sakura stared at the box, then back up at him. "What is it?"

Naruto blinked. "Um… birthday present?"

Sakura's eyes bulged slightly, as if everything had just now finally registered. "Oh! Oh…" her fingers fumbled as she opened it, "Thank y—oh my god, Naruto, is this…?!"

Naruto had to smile a little. He wasn't sure what her reaction was going to be, or if she'd even accept the gift. It had taken all of the past three months to find it. Every mission he'd gone on outside of Konoha he'd searched merchant shops and trinket places for the damn thing. The gem itself was actually a merge of two—a ruby and a diamond—cut and crafted together to create the illusion of clear, tear-dropped shaped gem with a small, pink flower petal inside of it (the ruby had to be cut small and precise, so the gift hadn't been very easy on his wallet). Expensive as it was, Naruto worked full time now and hardly spent money on anything other than ramen and rent, so it wasn't like he couldn't afford it…

"Naruto…" Sakura stared at jewel, then back at him in turn, "I… I don't know what to say."

Naruto shrugged. "Don't have to. Just don't try to give it back; you'll have better luck selling it."

Sakura's eyes snapped back to him just in time to see the trademark grin, one Naruto gave when he was either being a smartass or stubborn (or both). Before she could reprimand him for spending so much on her, he had turned and trotted off her doorstep.

Sakura looked at the necklace in her hand as Naruto walked away. Squeezing her fists shut around the trinket, she closed her eyes and spoke hurriedly while looking at the ground.

"Hey, Naruto, wait… did you still… wanttogoseethatmovie?"

Naruto stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. Turning around might end the fantasy world he just walked into. Did Sakura just ask him _out_?

"I mean, if you don't, I'd understand-d-"

Naruto whirled around before Sakura could finish her sentence. Sakura had never seen him look so hopeful.

"Really? You… you want to go?"

"Well," she said.

Naruto beamed. Positively _beamed_. This was possibly the happiest moment of his life.

"…sure." She finished, smiling sheepishly up at him. "I mean, if you still want t-"

Naruto resisted the urge to run around in circles in a mock-tribal dance of joy. "Yesyesyes! I mean, of course I do! I'd… I'd love to."

Sakura's smile turned into something slightly more genuine.

"Tonight?" Naruto prodded tentatively.

"Um… sure," Sakura looked slightly taken aback, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, tonight's great."

Bright whites flashed a huge grin. "So… see you around, um, eight?"

"Yeah, okay."

Sakura smiled at him one more time, and then disappeared into her house.

Naruto waited until he was around the corner before doing a leap of triumph accompanied by an enthusiastic '_Yatta_'

"Keep it down!" some old lady yelled out a nearby window.

- - -

When Sasuke woke in the morning, Naruto was gone.

Correction: it was no longer morning. The bedside clock shown the numbers 2:35 and the sun glared harshly through the open window.

Sasuke groaned and rolled over.

He wasn't sure if it had been due to the fever, or the stress from the nightmare, or if it had been the simple fact that he hadn't been alone that made him sleep so well. He would normally lie awake for hours thinking (usually about his brother) and toss and turn during the night, sometimes sleeping but always neglecting to get any rest. Last night he had knocked out so fast he couldn't even remember falling asleep, nor did Naruto wake him when he got out of bed – something Sasuke was almost positive would have awoken him.

Whatever the reason, decent sleep did nothing to drive his desire to get out of bed. In fact, if he had been in his own home, Sasuke would have probably just laid there all afternoon.

The persistent sunshine and fading smell of ramen, however, eventually convinced him to toss off the sheets and search for his clothes. Right where Naruto had said they were, his clothes were on the heater. They were also stiff, smelly and baked like chips. Sasuke grimaced as he shook each item out. This would not do…

Sighing, the brunette abandoned his clothes and searched a few of Naruto's drawers. Finding a pair of jeans and sweatshirt he guessed would fit, Sasuke sat back on the bed and gently began to pull the articles on, being wary of the delicate state of his body. The headache and extra heat was gone, but his muscles still ached with every flex and his hands throbbed gently underneath the bandages Naruto had dressed them in.

Sasuke spent the next ten minutes wondering if he should stay and wait for Naruto to get back or not. The idiot had helped him out last night, but unless he wanted him to stick around, why had Naruto left him there? Sasuke stood up and began to pace, half-stalling and half looking for his shoes. When the said objects were discovered, he made a quick decision. Shoving his shoes on his feet and his baked clothes in a plastic bag, Sasuke hasted his way out of the apartment.

- - -

Naruto had hardly been able to keep quiet about the date he had with Sakura. In fact, by six-thirty, Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, Ten-ten, Chouji Lee _and_ Hinata knew about it and were all currently crammed into his apartment. Sasuke probably would have known too, but he had seemed to have disappeared (again) and Naruto had a hunch he was stalking around Kakashi's place. Lee was trying to be happy for Naruto, but it didn't seem to be working. He kept smiling when Naruto looked his way, then sobbing in the corner when he thought no one was paying him attention. Hinata was doing a much better job at hiding her upset, but her efforts may have been helped slightly by the fact that Kiba had now grown bold enough to throw an arm affectionately around her shoulders. Neji seemed to be arguing with Ten-ten about the derivative of something or another, and Shikamaru told Naruto he could really care less about his stupid date and was content on playing chess with Chouji, who was losing terribly.

Ino, it seemed, was the only person who was openly disgusted with the arrangement. She spent a good half hour stomping around waving her finger threatening at Naruto, telling him if he tried anything she'd castrate him and feed the leftovers to Akamaru, who yipped as if to solidify her statement.

"I don't know _what's_ gotten into her, but I'm telling you, Naruto, you better make sure she has a good time and if you so much as make the ends of her hair split I SWEAR I'll kick your ass so hard your dead ancestors will feel it!"

"Oi, Ino," Shikamaru, it seemed, was beginning to feel sorry for Naruto. After all, he knew how tiring Ino's speeches were. He got them _every day_. "Give Naruto a break, eh? He might be annoying, but at least he doesn't go around making Sakura cry all over the place. If you want someone to bitch at, you should be screaming at Sasuke, don't you think?"

That, it seemed, was enough logic to make Ino relent her attack on Naruto and huff to the other end of the room.

Pulling away from Hinata, Kiba walked over to the now unoccupied Naruto and studied him critically. Naruto, who was slumped in a chair against the wall and still recovering from the verbal beating, stared back at him in confusion.

"You're not planning on going like _that_, are you?" Kiba asked.

Naruto looked down at himself; orange jumpsuit, black t-shirt, and his navy zori… He looked back up at Kiba, even more confused. "What do you mean, '_like this_?'"

Kiba rolled his eyes, muttering, "Thought so," as he hauled Naruto off his ass and into the boy's bedroom. Naruto yipped at the sudden jerk and complained loudly as the room watched Kiba drag him away and close the door. Inside, much loud shouting could be heard and Shikamaru sighed.

"So noisy," he muttered.

Hanging out at Naruto's wasn't so bad anymore; he was hardly home, so the place was much cleaner simply by lack of use. It was also convenient since he didn't have any parents to worry about, but without Naruto himself there to keep the place alive and noisy, it could quickly get very boring. It was nearly seven-thirty when Ino, who had been mumbling 'What are they _doing_ in there?' for the past thirty minutes, finally lost patience and banged on the shut bedroom door. No answer. In fact, there had been hardly any noise since the first fifteen minutes of arguing that had commenced when Kiba first dragged Naruto in there.

"He_llo?_ What the hell are you two doing in there, making out?! (Shikamaru promptly spit out his soda, and Hinata blushed) Open up already!"

"In a minute!" came the muffled reply.

Five minutes later, the door finally opened, and Ino had stood up again to berate the two of them for taking so long and what the hell had they been doing that whole time and god _damn_ Naruto looked…

"Wow," Ten-ten muttered. It was so quiet in the room, however, that everyone heard her. Nobody seemed coherent enough to argue.

Naruto looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"What?" he asked, accusingly.

Ino finally noticed her mouth was open, and closed it. "Kiba, what did you _do?_"

Kiba grinned toothily. "Attacked him with a hairbrush."

If Hinata's eyes got any bigger, they were going to fall out of her heard. Even _Neji_ was staring.

Kiba had done _something_, that was for sure. Naruto looked… well. _Hot_. Hot in the hey-baby-lets-go-shag-in-the-alley kind of way. Ino couldn't believe her eyes. Naruto wasn't supposed to be _hot_. Sure, after four years he'd gotten _kind_ of cute (Did she just _think_ that? Ugh.) , _maybe_ kind of attractive to some people (like Hinata), but he was _NOT_ hot.

Ever.

His spiky blonde hair was still tussled and messy-looking, but it seemed to have been done on purpose rather then just by lack of caring, which somehow made it more appealing. It appeared Kiba had forced him to take a bath, because his skin was clean and bright and his tan stuck out boldly against the sun-lighted hair, which in turn made his eyes appear bluer then ever. His clothes were different, too. Naruto was wearing something he'd never worn (not out in public, anyway); a pair of dark red cargos hung loosely around his waist, not excessively baggy but not tight enough to cling anywhere, black boots and a dark, ashy-colored vest that was zipped halfway up his chest, partially revealing a well-toned chest beneath and displaying strong arms that were usually hidden beneath the long sleeves of his jumper. Kiba had taken off his red headband and tied it around Naruto's forehead where his hiate-ete would normally be displayed. And finally, around Naruto's neck hung the pendant he'd won from the Godaime four years ago.

Akamaru barked and abruptly broke the silence.

"Wow," Ten-ten said again, "Naruto, you look-"

"Like you're going to a rock concert," Shikamaru finished for her from the other side of the room. Naruto made a face at him.

"Stuff it, Shika, you know it's an improvement," Kiba chided, eyeing the watch around his wrist and blinked. "Wow, we _were_ in there forever. You better get going, Naruto. It's already seven thirty."

"Eh…" Naruto looked uncomfortably down at his new image, "I dunno, Kiba…"

"Oh, _go,_" Ino said, sounding exaspherated. "You look…" making a pained, struggling face, Ino forced the words out her mouth, "…really good, Naruto."

Naruto stared at her. "Really?"

"Uh, yeah," Ino said, "Sakura-chan'll be thrilled. Now _go_ or you'll be late and I'll have to kick your ass!"

Naruto, staring at her briefly and then trusting they could all let themselves out, grinned and ran out of the apartment.

- - -

Knock-knock.

Sakura's mother answered the door again. Naruto smiled at her angelically and asked if Sakura was around. The woman eyed him dangerously before disappearing behind the door. He could hear her calling Sakura's name inside the house.

_'Sakura!__ What is that boy doing here?!'_

'_He's on my team mom, you know that!'_

_'That doesn't give you permission to go running around with him!'_

_'Just leave it alone!'_

_'He's bad news, how many times do I have to tell you? Come back here, young lady!'_

Naruto sighed. It was always the same.

Sakura appeared several minutes later, looking slightly ruffled and irritated (not at Naruto, it appeared, which cheered him up slightly). She slammed the door behind her and immediately composed herself, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling up at him. Her gaze faltered slightly when it looked him over, but quickly righted itself.

"Sorry," she said quickly.

Naruto almost swallowed his tongue.

She was wearing a dress similar to the one she'd worm to her birthday party, only now it was white and the skirt was much shorter, coming to stop at about mid-thigh. It was tight around her upper body, and tapered off into a loose, flowing swirl of fabric around her legs, and navy-colored jean jacket covered her bare shoulders. Her feet were clad in small-heeled white sandals and her hair had been brought up into a partial ponytail, the remaining half of her hair whisking around her slender shoulders. Over her shoulder was a small purse, and, Naruto was surprised to notice, she'd even bothered to put on _makeup_.

Sakura didn't need makeup. Even still, she was beautiful.

"You look, um, really pretty," he said stupidly.

To his silent delight, Sakura blushed anyway. "Thanks. You look… really good, too."

Sakura was surprised to realize she actually meant that. He _did_ look good. Huh.

Neither of them said another word until they reached the theatre. It was a stupid movie, but it made Sakura giggle in the cutest possible ways at steady intervals, which always managed to make Naruto grin. He spent more of the flick watching her then watching the movie. Sakura actually seemed to be having a good time, which was so… odd for him to feel. She usually acted irritated and unhappy when he was anywhere in the vicinity. Tonight… tonight it was just _them_, just the two of them, and she was smiling and laughing at the movie, and kept stealing popcorn out of his lap and smiling at _him_ and god it was like a dream come true.

It was almost too good to last.

Sakura was still giggling about the last scene as they filed out of the theatre amongst the crowd of other young couples. Naruto was grinning, not because of the movie but because he was in a great mood even if he hadn't been brave enough to chance putting his arm around her during the movie. Sakura repeated the last few lines and Naruto mocked it, making Sakura laugh more and throw an old piece of popcorn at him. He opened his mouth and caught it, making her purse her lips and stick her tongue out at him.

It was colder outside now that it was dark, but Naruto could hardly feel it. He was too happy to care, to warm from seeing Sakura smile so many times at him in one night to even care if he died at that very moment because at least he would be happy.

Sakura shivered slightly. She was wearing a jacket, but she only had a tank top under it and it was getting chilly. Though, it would be really hard to ruin her mood even if it was cold – she was having a good time, as weird as it seemed. The movie had been predictable but still enjoyable, and Naruto had been an angel and hadn't so much as forgotten to hold open a door or say anything to piss her off. All in all, tonight had been a lot of fun.

"I'll walk you home," Naruto offered.

He looked happy but slightly disappointed that the night was about over at the same time. Sakura smiled at him weakly, "Okay."

Knowing Naruto wouldn't dare offer, they had started walking before Sakura put the words together for the rest of her sentence, "I mean, we could hang out for a bit longer, if you wanted."

Naruto was glad he wasn't looking at her when she said that, because he blanched slightly. "I'd like that a lot."

So instead, they turned left and wandered further from the direction of her house. They lapsed in and out of small talk as they went, no set destination in mind and both making enormous attempts to be pleasant company. For once, Sakura was able to enjoy Naruto's light heartedness without glaring at him over Sasuke's shoulder, or pretending she hated being around him just out of spite. She wanted to ask Naruto about Sasuke, and what had gone on between the two of them the night before, but she was afraid that doing so would break the spell of enjoyment that seemed to have been cast on the two.

They stopped at a collection of small shops that were closing for the night, and Naruto managed to charm the store tender into selling him two more ice-creams before putting the freezer away. Sakura blushed as the man behind the counter eyed her and then winked at Naruto, wishing them a good night.

When they reached the park, Sakura knew they had to have walked halfway across town. Her house was at least a thirty minute walk from here. Naruto slowed and mingled around the trees while Sakura found a comfy rock by the fishpond and poked the surface with the tip of her shoe. The water rippled softly and blurs of white and orange shot back and forth under the disturbance, looking for any possible scraps.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Naruto, who had leant back against a tree to her left, looked up. "Um… actually, no." Glancing at the sky, he shrugged. "Probably close to eleven. Do you want to go?"

"In a little bit. Not yet."

Naruto grinned at her from under the cherry tree (it was late March so they were in bloom, and Naruto almost looked pretty with petals fluttering around him). A gust of wind swept by, causing even more petals to fall and Sakura shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?"

"Not really…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe a _little_ chilly. Nothing I can't handle," she said stiffly, retaining a little of her old defiance.

"I'm a bit cold, too, actually," he said, shuddering a little - stupid Kiba for dressing him in a sleeveless shirt.

Sakura sat there for a minute, watching the surface of the water slowly settle and the ripples disappear as they grew wider and wider. Getting up, she walked over to Naruto and stood in front of him and poked the bare flesh showing where the vest was only half-zipped up. "You should have brought a jacket."

"I didn't plan on standing in the woods after dark," he admitted cheekily.

Sakura glared at him. "You can leave if you want."

Naruto grinned at her. "Nah… I think I can put up with it," his finger flicked the gem dangling below her collarbone gently as he spoke.

Sakura looked down at the necklace, then back up at him with a small smile. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. Just for you, though."

It was perfect. Right there in front of him. All he had to do was move. He just had to…

Sakura smiled at him, and did something that made him go rigid-backed against the tree: she leant forward and laid her head on his chest, sighing and using him for support.

Naruto was torn between shock and complete bliss. Closing his eyes and tilting his head so it rested against hers, he kissed her forehead through her hair. He hadn't even realized what he'd done until it was too late.

But Sakura didn't run away, or worse scold him for being bold or perverted or an idiot. Instead, she tilted her face up slowly, pulling her head back but not relinquishing her weight off him. She was wondering why she felt so comfortable, so at ease, so… _safe_, just standing here in the park in the middle of the night, and leaning against Naruto of all people.

Maybe it was because out of all of her friends, she'd treated him the worst and yet, out of all of them… he had always been the one there for her. To help her, to make sure she was happy, and on more than one occasion, to risk his life to save her own.

How could she have been so _stupid?_

Sakura froze when he kissed her; not in disgust, but in shock… she had been so busy with her own thoughts she hadn't noticed him move closer until his lips had brushed her own.

"Naru…" Sakura's words died in her throat as her lips melted on his and she tilted her head to allow him better access.

This had to be one of those 'shit happens' situations Ino had always been telling her about.

His lips were a little dry but undeniable soft, and—Sakura realized with a jolt—they felt really good against her skin. He kissed her lightly at first, nudging her lips apprehensively with his own until she remembered to breathe, at which point he licked the small opening between her lips. Sakura's eyes fluttered closed with the feeling that caused and opened her mouth to allow him inside.

What she expected was a clumsy, slobbery mess of tongue and saliva that would end awkwardly, mostly due to the inexperience of both parties. She had never kissed anyone before (she had been saving herself for Sasuke—so much for that) and Naruto… well, she had been positive that Naruto hadn't kissed anyone yet. He was too much of an idiot still for most girls' tastes, and he was still oblivious to Hinata and the small collection of girls that found him endearing.

…or at least, that's what she had thought until he started to kiss her. Naruto wasn't a natural at anything, except perhaps being loud, so unless he'd done this before… Sakura lost track of her thoughts as his tongue grazed her own for the first time.

The kiss started out gentle, and stayed that way as they rearranged themselves, and soon Sakura found herself with her mouth being invaded by the strange tongue and her back being pushed up against the trunk of the tree. What was even weirder was that none of this made her angry or irritated; when Naruto cupped one side of her face with his left hand and pulled her waist closer with his right, she responded without any complaints, tilting her hips up and her head to the side to better accommodate the kiss.

His tongue wrapped around her own, massaging the sides of it with slow, fluid strokes, each rendering her knees more and more useless. When his tongue suddenly changed course and ran its tip along the roof of her mouth she lost her balance completely, and would have probably fallen if she hadn't been leaning against the tree.

A well-placed knee somehow snaked itself between her legs, and before she knew what was happening, her left leg was arched over his hip and she was standing on her tiptoe with her right as Naruto pushed her into the tree (whose bark was thankfully soft) and continued to assault her mouth. She gasped as he released her lips and he moved his attention to the side of her neck, kissing and nibbling in the most sensitive places between her shoulder and earlobe.

_God, this can't be happening…_

His right hand traveled further down, following the curve below her waist and cupping the soft flesh of her upper thigh, pulling her almost completely onto his lap as he brought both of his legs in-between hers. Her skirt had ridden up almost all of the way, and his hand cupping her underside snuck under it without him even thinking about it as Sakura gasped again at the touch. His left hand trailed down her neck and slid over her chest, growing more and more daring as she continued to fail to reprimand him about it.

_Not like this…_

Swollen lips traveled up her chin and covered her own once again and Sakura found herself kissing _back_, her tongue moving against her conscious as it collided with Naruto's and begged him to keep up the delicious things he was doing to the rest of her body. Her jacket had somehow found itself on the ground in the mess and Naruto had his hips between her legs and was pressing her into the tree so hard it should have hurt - but all Sakura could feel was sweet, sweet ecstasy between her thighs and she wanted to cry out and tell him not to stop. She couldn't believe the sensations, the insane prickling feelings flowing from her abdomen down to her toes and up to the highest point of her spine, making her vision blur with white pleasure.

_It's too good…_

His hands were both under her thighs now, completely underneath her skirt and gripping her with a pressure hard enough to be firm but not bruise. Pinning her against the tree with his hip and deep-throating her with his tongue, Naruto's right hand let go of her backside and ghosted along her skin until it found her inner thigh. Sakura shuddered against him with the new sensation, and yelped inside his mouth as his hand continued up to the top of her inner leg. He released her mouth and nibbled gently on her earlobe as his fingers pried between the annoying layer of clothing protecting her hidden skin, not knowing exactly what they were doing but determined just the same.

"God…damn…" was all Sakura managed to gasp out as Naruto maneuvered his way inside, burying her head in his shoulder with a pleasurable shiver. Her hands were grasping his shoulders, fingernails raking against the bare flesh, leaving red marks in their wake.

Sakura briefly wondered how it could feel so much better when someone _else _was doing it. When someone like Naruto was…

She could hear his heavy breathing in her ear—and it had to be the sexiest thing she had ever heard—but when she closed her eyes, Sakura didn't see Naruto. She saw dark, ebony hair and deep, heavy-lidded eyes… eyes that never gave her warmth and never let her sleep. Eyes that she wanted to look into while she felt like this, eyes that would never look at her like Naruto was looking at her right now.

The body against her shifted slightly, his heat pressing forcefully against her left thigh while agile fingers continued to explore the place that Sakura had put aside a long time ago for someone else, someone she had been in love with since a young girl, someone who wasn't Naruto…

Fingers moved deeper still, and Sakura cried out softly.

"_Sasuke_…"

Sakura felt the body against her go rigid, and the next moment she was falling, and her legs barely caught her, stumbling in an effort to keep her from hitting the ground.

Naruto was standing several feet back from her, staring.

Sakura had never seen him look that _hurt_ before. Her heart fell into her stomach as she tried to reach out for him. "I… I didn't me-mean-n…"

Naruto stepped out of her reach, same look of utter disbelief strewn across his face.

Sakura just stared. "Naruto…"

Naruto didn't say anything, turned, and fled.

- - -

A/N: I have only one thing to say: _Ouch._


	3. Time After Time

**Title: **Memory Yields

**Author:** JaD

**Rating:** NC-17 (explicit sexual acts, harsh language)

**Pairing**: SasuNaru

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Kudos, Kishimoto!

**Chapter Summary**: In which Naruto angsts, four people get laid, and Kiba makes an unwelcome discovery.

**Fore notes: _For full introduction, see Chapter One._**

! …before I'm eaten by the KakaIru fans, I don't deny the appeal Kakashi has a homosexual, but my gut feeling about his sexual preference is simply a casual bi. Gomen nasai. Also, it seems the pairing of this fic is somewhat unclear, because people keep asking me if it's SasuNaru. Honestly, if you're _that_ blind (and/or lazy) you don't deserve an answer.

All of you worship the grammatical greatness that is the **Koo-chan **and** Ness-sama**, because without their wisdom and insanely fast editing skills, these chapters would take so much longer to publish ** 3**

… "spazzed" is _so_ a word, I don't care what Merriam and Webster say. This chappie ish dedicated to the uber!seme, **Ochiba-sama**, because she is the awesome… and threatened my life with sporks many times to get this chapter out as quickly as possible oO;;

**One more thing:** In the middle of the chapter somewhere there's four _italicized_ lines marked with "-"s just so they stand out—if these make no sense, do not fear—they're part of something I plan on revealing later… just not yet. No, there is no hinting in the previous chapters to them, so don't feel all confused. Gomen about that, Ness-sama

- -

_**III: Time After Time**_

_If you're lost you can look_

_And you will find me_

_Time after time_

_If you fall, I will catch you_

_I will be waiting_

_Time after time_

Cyndi Lauper, _Time After Time_

"_Apparently, I was misinformed."_

Bill Watterson, _Calvin and Hobbes_

It was official: this was the worst fucking night of his life.

Naruto didn't stop running even when he knew he was out of her range. He couldn't have stopped if he wanted to, and his feet moved on their own, following the shortest path back to his apartment. He didn't even blink as he dashed past the closed gates of the old Uchiha community, ignoring the painted red-and-white fan symbol peeling off the wooden doors.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong… of all of the things she could have said or done to him… Naruto narrowed his eyes as he ran and tried to convince himself that it was the force of the air against his eyes making them water. Naruto didn't cry anymore. He had stopped crying years ago. The last time he had cried had been during his battle with Sasuke, at which point he vowed never to do it again. He had to be strong to become Hokage;the strong didn't cry.

Opening his eyes, Naruto took the first few stairs up to his place at a jump and was halfway up the staircase before he looked up.

Just when he thought his night couldn't get any worse…

Sasuke blinked at him. He was standing a few steps ahead of him, bag full of what looked like clothes in one arm and looking somewhat surprised but calm. Naruto didn't comprehend why he was there, or that what had happened wasn't even his fault and acted without thinking. He kept running and by the time Sasuke noticed he wasn't stopping it was too late to get out of the way. Naruto took him back up the last two stairs, slamming him hard into the wall beside his door at the top. Sasuke gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs and his head recovered from the shock.

"_I fucking **hate** you!_" The words, although shouted in his face, just barely registered in Sasuke's consciousness because it was still regaining its ability to think "It's always about _you_! No matter what you do to people, no matter how _fucking_ horrible you are to them, no matter how many times you tell them you **hate** them and don't care and you want to _kill_ them it's still always about Sasuke, Sasuke, _Sasuke_! Why can't they see what you _really_ fucking are! Why do they love _you_ so fucking much? Why do they hate **me** when I've never done anything to them, yet you turn your back on them and spit in their face and they **LOVE** you for it! Should I start treating the people I love like shit! _Huh! _Will they like me then! Is that it! What's your secret, you fucking asshole! _WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO!"_

Calling that a verbally expressed emotional overload would have been an understatement, or at least, that was what Sasuke's first thought was when Naruto finished. He was surprised to notice that even in the dark he could see the trace of moisture at the edge of Naruto's eyes and the faint reddening of the skin there. Had Naruto been crying?

He just stared, quite unsure of how to handle it at first, mostly because he had no idea whatsoever what prompted it. He had spent most of his day in bed, not sleeping but thinking and fidgeting, wandered around the neighborhood the last few hours or evening, and had only come now to return the clothes he borrowed to discover Naruto wasn't at home. He had no idea where the blonde had been, nor whom with, but his brain quickly went over a short list of people that could cause such an explosion. He, of course, was at the top of that list, but since he knew for a fact he had nothing to do with this…

His expression going placid, Sasuke waited for Naruto to loosen his grip on his collar and for his breathing to settle a little before speaking.

"So, what did she do to you this time?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed further, and he shoved Sasuke back into the wall once more just for good measure before dropping him. Leaving the question unanswered and Sasuke leaning against the wall, he kicked open his apartment and walked inside without a word, not bothering to close the front door. Sasuke could hear something being kicked, then a curse, and then a door closing somewhere inside the building.

He should have just thrown the bag of clothes inside the open door and left. It would have been the smart thing, the rational thing—the _Sasuke_ thing to do. He couldn't think of a reason to bother and pursue the subject. He knew by Naruto's sudden act of violence he was the last person the blonde wanted to see right now, and he also knew by the reaction to his mention of Sakura that she indeed had something to do with this. Sasuke did not want to talk about Sakura and he could guess that Naruto didn't either.

Cursing his curiosity, Sasuke went inside and closed the battered door behind him.

Naruto was not in the den or the kitchen, which was a combination of two rooms connected. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the closed door that led to the bedroom and walked inside without bothering to knock.

Naruto was sitting on the other side of the bed facing the window, his back to Sasuke "Get out."

Sasuke tossed the bag of clothes in his direction and it hit him lightly on the shoulders, bouncing back off onto the bed "Make me."

Sasuke had little time to appreciate the speed Naruto had developed over the years. The last time they had been on a mission together, he had been able to outmaneuver Kakashi, and _that_ was saying something; their Jounin leader usually bested even Sasuke himself when it came to speed. Naruto had a knack for becoming enhanced in many areas when he was emotionally disturbed, and this was no exception. This is why it was of little surprise when Naruto jumped off the bed and swung around faster then Sasuke could blink, and when he did reopen his eyes, Naruto had impaled his fist on—or rather, _inside_—the wall beside his head.

"I said," Naruto spat through clenched teeth, "_Get. **Out**._"

Sasuke stared him down without much effort. "No."

Naruto made a loud, angry, incoherent noise and pulled his hand out of the wall.

"Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone! _Everyone else does!_" Turning away, Naruto didn't see the change in Sasuke's eyes "_I'm tired of trying!_"

It was quiet for a few moments as Sasuke regarded his comrade silently, digesting the words. Naruto closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then turned back around.

"Am I really _that_ bad?"

Sasuke blinked at him.

"I know I'm an idiot and stupid more than my share of the time I know I've got no great lineage to back me up or no super-awesome bloodline powers to make me special, but what have I ever done to deserve this **bullshit**?"

Sasuke watched him carefully; his breathing had eased slightly and noticed how his face quickly began to shadow depression rather then fury.

Shrugging, Sasuke threw him a smirk.

"I don't know, Naruto **S**ometimes you can be one hell of a pain in the ass."

"Screw you" **T**he words were hollow, just said for the sake of having been said, and Sasuke ignored them and watched as Naruto sunk to the floor, using his bed as a backrest.

After a moment, Sasuke joined him, sitting on the floor beside him. They remained like that for a long stretch of minutes before Naruto, being unnaturally quiet, slunk sideways and leaned his weight on the boy beside him. Naruto scowled to himself as Sasuke took his weight and continued to wait persistently.

"So are you going to tell me what happened, or are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself all night?"

"It depends," Naruto said, his voice unusually calm "If I do, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on between you and Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly and narrowed his eyes "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid, that's my job," Naruto said, turning his head to the side and giving him an exasperated look "Even Kiba's noticed it, and he never notices anything."

"Noticed _what?"_

"That Kakashi-sensei's been avoiding you," Naruto replied simply and then, as an afterthought, added, "and that you've been all but stalking him every night."

Sasuke didn't say anything, and then looked away. "This conversation isn't about me, it's about you."

"Why not? Everything else is about you," Naruto sighed and fell silent, shifting his weight but not removing himself from Sasuke's side.

Sasuke waited patiently and quietly, knowing it was only a matter of time before—

"Always about you," the blonde muttered, and then his voice suddenly rose into a normal volume "Even when it's not about you, it's always about you. Even when you destroyed her birthday and told all of us to go to hell, it's _still_ about you. You had nothing to do with it. It was supposed to be about me for once, just me, just her, not you. It was _my_ night with her. You didn't even know about it, she was angry with you, hell, I was angry with you—everyone was. Everyone _is_. So, explain to me how it still managed to be about you?"

Sasuke listened to that whole lot of nothing and said nothing.

"I was going to walk her home after the movie" (Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Movie?) "She said alright at first, and I wasn't happy the night was over, but I was thrilled it had happened at all. I was perfectly fine with taking her home. It was _her_ idea not to go yet. She wanted to hang out for a while; she told _me_ that, I didn't say a damn thing, and it's not like I was about to turn her down or anything. I mean, it wasn't _that_ late, not even midnight…

"Even when we got to the park I kept my distance. I didn't touch her. She came over to me. At first I thought she was leading me on, or just being nice because of the present I'd given her earlier, and then I thought she was just trying to forget about you, but after I kissed her—"

If Naruto hadn't had his head leaning on Sasuke's shoulder, he might have noticed the slightly surprised expression that flashed across his features. Sasuke had been expecting something simple—that Naruto had gone to consol Sakura and tell her that he was an idiot and that she shouldn't worry about him, and then Sakura had shot Naruto down for bad-mouthing him. Something simple like that, something normal… kissing was not involved anywhere in that train of thought and both of Sasuke's brows rose slightly.

"—I really thought for once, she wasn't faking. I mean, how can you do something like that, kiss someone back and not mean it?"

Okay, now the sudden rage made a little more sense. Knowing now more than just words were exchanged, he could see why the blonde's reaction to being shot down was worse than normal.

Sasuke was satisfied, thinking the worst was over, and was about to say so, but Naruto kept talking.

"I mean, if she had just pushed me away after that and cried and ran off, I could understand that. I was ready for that. I could have dealt with that."

Sasuke blinked again.

"Even after things kinda got out of hand… I guess that was my fault, but she wasn't telling me to stop she was encouraging me more than anything—I mean, I wasn't about to try and do anything serious, but she…she said—of all the fucking things she could have said to me right then, or done to me, I just can't believe she would—after I, I mean, after we—"

This could take a while.

Sasuke said the first thing he'd said in ten minutes "Did you two…?"

Naruto jerked and his eyes bulged slightly and he somehow managed to glare up at Sasuke at the same time "No! God, what gave you that idea! Do I look like a pervert! Just because both my instructors have their minds in the gutter doesn't mean—"

"Naruto."

The voice was gentle but firm, for it shut Naruto up immediately, and he looked away. He didn't need to be told he was rambling; he had been doing it on purpose.

"She said your name," he said quietly, so that Sasuke had to strain to hear it. Even still, he wasn't sure he'd heard him correctly.

"She what?"

"_She called your name!_" This response was much louder, even with Naruto still looking at the floor. "Of all the things she could have said, or done, to ruin it! After all that—after everything you said to her on her birthday, despite every fucking time you've ever made her cry, and after everything she said to me that night, after everything we were doing—it always has to be about _you!_ She wasn't even thinking about me, that whole time—how could she do that! I was right there, in front of her, holding her, and she was still thinking about you! She just fucking pretended I was you!"

Sasuke's expression remained blank, but something inside his chest pinched and made him want to grimace.

"Why does she love you so much?" Naruto had quieted down again, but he was still refusing to look at his teammate. "You've been nothing but cruel to her, and you know it you do it on purpose. You've never liked her, or any of the girls, and even when you make them cry just because you can, they still love you. Why? Why do they ignore the people that want to make them happy? It's not just me – she does it to Lee, too. Ino, Ten-Ten, they all do… it's like they enjoy being upset. I can't understand that."

Sasuke remained silent, and after a moment, Naruto added, "Women make no sense."

"And yet you wonder why I avoid them?"

Naruto blinked, then turned around to look at him. Sasuke was smiling at him sideways.

"You're such an asshole, Sasuke."

"So I've been told."

"I'm not the only one who thinks so! Shikamaru does too. He never liked you."

Sasuke made a face. Shikamaru was one of the few people he hadn't minded being around.

"And Neji. He thinks you're a prick too. But he's a prick to begin with, so I don't know if that really counts. Kiba thinks so too, but to Kiba, anything without breasts is a prick, which I guess isn't entirely inaccurate. The girls, though, oh no, they all think you're an angel. Shows what they know. Women, geez…"

While Naruto was rambling, Sasuke let his eyes wander. Noticing a discarded book halfway under the bed he pulled it out and studied it with some disinterest before showing it to Naruto.

"Not a pervert, huh? So what do you need this for?"

Naruto stared at the cover of _Come Come Paradise (Collector's Gold Edition!)_ for a moment, then exploded.

"I don't need it! It's not even mine! That stupid Ero-Sennin sent it to me to celebrate his movie debut! As if I needed something like that! ARG!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and flipped through the book idly, "Sending pornography to minors… not a very good role model, is he?"

"It's not pornography! And I am not a minor, god dammit!"

Sasuke smiled, just slightly so Naruto didn't see it. _Well, that was easy._

Eyes drifting back to the book in his hands, Sasuke let his gaze trail down one page and let out a snort. Naruto, curious, looked at him. "What?"

Sasuke shook his head and handed the book to him. Naruto's eyes grew larger the further they went down the page.

"Is that even physically possible?" he asked after a moment, looking up at his teammate.

Sasuke was smiling at him oddly. "We could find out."

- -

Sakura was freezing by the time she got home. She'd left her jacket at the park, too shaken to have remembered it, and ran most of the way home.

"Sakura, sweetheart?" Her mother was in the kitchen. Sakura quickly dodged the entryway, kicking off her shoes and darted towards the stairs. "Sakura? Honey? Are you finally home? I—SAKURA!"

She froze at the sudden yell, wincing. Turning around, she found her mother staring at her from the foot of the stairs, looking aghast.

"What in heaven's name happened to you!"

Sakura looked down at herself and gasped. She had been too preoccupied with thoughts to even notice her current state; her legs and arms were filthy, probably from rubbing up against the bark of the tree, and where Naruto had… touched her, her dress had been ripped in the process and was showing almost all of her right leg. She tensed as she suddenly became aware of the mess between her legs, more evidence of she had been doing with him, and flushed.

Her mother finally seemed to find her voice, taking Sakura's silence as trauma.

"That boy…" her eyes widened in horrific realization, "That Uzumaki boy… _he_ did this to you, didn't he? I told you…"

"No, 'kaa-san, it's not like that—" Sakura desperately tried to find the words "It's not—"

"_I told you not to go out with him!_" her mother shrieked, looking furious and terrified at once "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you, young lady! I was worried sick—and now I know, for good reason! Out until after midnight, I should have known something was wrong—don't you dare try to defend him! I don't care if they forced you on his team or not, that is _no_ excuse for this! Oh, when I'm through with him—!"

"'Kaa-san!" Sakura was shocked by her mother's sudden flare—her mother was usually a quiet, kind woman; protective, perhaps, but never vindictive or nasty. "He's just a friend! He didn't do anything! Just a stupid boy--"

"He is _not!"_ Her mother looked livid now, and Sakura saw the vague shadow of her father moving towards her from the living room "That's what they want you to think. That's what they've forced us to tell you—forced us to feed you _lies_, our own daughter!"

"Michiko, really, we shouldn't—"

Michiko waved her husband off harshly "Don't you give me that! She's sixteen now, she has a right to know! She has to work with him everyday, go on dangerous missions with him, trusting him with her life—"

"_Naruto has saved my life dozens of times!_" Sakura snapped.

"So that he could do this to you! No wonder!" Her mother had turned away from her father, who looked up at her with apologetic eyes. "I don't think you'd speak so lightly of him if you knew _what he really was!_"

"He's just an idiot!" Sakura yelled back. The tears were flowing freely again down her cheeks. Why was her mother doing this? Naruto may have been loud, obnoxious and stupid at times, but he did care about her… it was her fault what happened tonight, after all… it wasn't like he was a _monster_, or anything.

"Sixteen years ago," her mother's voice was no longer yelling, but there was something malicious about it, "**y**ou were only, what? Seven months old, at most? Did they teach you in school how the Yondaime was killed, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked. What did that have to do with Naruto? "Yes… of course, we all know the story… he sacrificed his life… to save the village from a demon fox… the Nine-Tails… why—?"

"Did they tell you what happened to the demon?"

"Yondaime killed him?" Sakura said tentatively.

Michiko laughed.

Sakura was not slow, by any means. Not perhaps as sharp as Sasuke, but when you gave her 1 and 1, she knew how to make 2.

"You poor child… my poor daughter," her mother corrected herself, shaking her head "Having to train, live, and work with that foul creature, day after day… you wonder why I am always so terrified? It's not because I doubt you, Sakura-chan. I know you can take care of yourself out there. I worry because of _him,_ because I don't trust that boy—that, that _monster_ that they let become a shinobi."

Sakura sat down on the top stair, hard.

"You're lying," Sakura said weakly.

"Am I? Tell her, Yuta. Tell her I'm telling the truth."

Her father bowed his head, and Sakura immediately knew it was true.

Only she didn't want to believe it. Refused to.

"You realize what you've done?" she heard her father ask her mother "If anyone finds out you've told her, you'll—"

"Go to prison?" Michiko asked "For trying to protect my daughter? Hardly. I'd like to see the Council try to lock me up for telling her after she comes home looking like she was raped. The village wouldn't allow it—"

"_Naruto didn't do anything to me!"_ Sakura screamed, throwing her purse down the stairs. Both parents looked at her, startled. "He's never done anything to me! All he's ever done is care about me and protect me! And all I've ever done is ignore him for it! You're wrong, both of you! Naruto couldn't be that—that—_he loves this village!_"

Sakura stood up and turned around before either of her parents could say a word to stop her. She ran to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her. She refused to come out for the rest of the night.

- -

Naruto rolled his eyes and tossed the book aside, "Yeah, right. By the time we were finished fighting over who got to screw who we'd be fast asleep."

Silence fell over the two once more, and Naruto was growing steadily more uncomfortable. Now that he wasn't talking, he was more aware of the situation; the side of his body was putting most of its weight on Sasuke, who had dropped one knee flat and moved his arm back so that Naruto was halfway into his lap. The brunette hardly seemed bothered by this, and it was slowly dawning on Naruto just how clearly he could make out Sasuke's heartbeat – it was slow and steady, like his breathing.

If it stayed this quiet much longer, Naruto swore he was going to go insane.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

Sasuke had the dignity to look scandalized. "What?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Naruto repeated. "Well, besides me, but that really didn't count, so…"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, staring at the wall. "Why?"

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged against him "I'm curious. Have you?"

There was a small pause before Sasuke chose to answer "Yes."

"Really?" Naruto perked up, tilting his head so he could see Sasuke's face – or part of it, anyway. "Who?"

"Don't worry about it."

Naruto hesitated. He had to ask… he knew the answer already, but dammit, he had to ask.

"Sakura?" he said tentatively.

"Fuck no."

Naruto actually smiled.

"Okay, okay—but who? Oh, don't put on that face. I told _you_!" he whined, pouting at the complete fed-up face Sasuke was giving him. "Who? Tellmetellmetellme!"

"None of your damn business."

"Sasuke!" Naruto sat up beside him, glaring "Stop acting like such a prick! It's not like I'm going to tell anybody! Who the hell listens to me anyway?"

Sasuke remained silent, eyes fixed on the wall.

Naruto began to get furious.

"This isn't fucking fair! I tell you to get out and you come barging in here, demanding to know what's wrong, so I sit here and pour out my soul to you, confide all of my woes in you, tell you the deepest, darkest secrets of my life—"

Sasuke rolled, and then closed his eyes. _So loud…_

"—do you really think I wanted to tell you what happened tonight? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was? For all I knew you were going to laugh in my face and make some smart-ass remark about the whole thing! But I told you anyway, I trusted you—"

_- Kakashi sighed. "I'm not what you need."_

_- "I know."_

_- "Then why…"_

_- "Because it's enough."_

"—you say you don't care but you still want to know. I know you care, but you're too proud to admit it! You'd kill yourself before you'd admit you had any other feeling then hate, you angsty bastard. Sometimes I think you _like_ being depressed, or maybe you just like the attention? Is that it? It gets all the girls to notice you. '_Oh, Sasuke-the-Loner, he's so dark and Goth and sexy! I want to have his children!_' I swear, you have to like it, it's the only reason you still act the way you do—"

_It never was enough…_

"—are you even listening to me, you bastard? You're not, are you? Figures. Fine, ignore me then. I'll sit here and talk to myself just to spite you, asshole—"

"Will you give it a rest?"

"NO!" Naruto snapped, grabbing him by the collar and forcing them to look at once another. "Why the hell should I have to shut up? First, you want me to talk; now, you want me to shut up! Screw you! This is my house, you asshole! You can't make me shut—umph!"

Naruto froze corrected. Sasuke had, apparently for no other reason then to do just that, lunged forward and kissed him on the lips, giving him a fleeting feeling of déja vu. The force had driven him backwards so hard that he'd fallen onto his back on the floor, Sasuke going with him. Their lips separated as Naruto's head thwacked against the wooden floor and he stared up at his teammate, transfixed and more than just a little surprised.

"Sasuke, wha—?"

"I thought I told you to shut up?"

Naruto was kissed again, and he tried to struggle only to find himself forcibly held down. Sasuke had too many advantages—he was on top, much larger, and in this case, certainly more aggressive. There was also the element of surprise, because Naruto was still trying to focus on exactly what was happening to him.

Sasuke. Kissing.

_Me?_

"_Get off_," he spat. Teeth bit down on his lower lip and suckled it gently, and Naruto closed his eyes in inner turmoil. "Off!**"**

A forearm crushed his collarbone, stretching across his shoulders and holding him down. He gasped as his shoulder blades dug into the hardwood, and the moment his mouth opened, Sasuke's tongue slipped inside, and he was surprised to find it hard to resist retaliating with his own.

Disgusted with his own lack of self-control, Naruto did the one thing that he could muster the mind power to focus on, and punched Sasuke in the jaw. Hard.

"Ow! Fuck, Naruto!"

Sasuke had pulled back, but he was still bent over Naruto while he rubbed is chin with the back of his hand. Naruto was satisfied to notice his lip was bleeding.

"I said get off" Naruto wriggled beneath him, but Sasuke's grip was firm "What the hell has gotten into you! Let _go!_"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto swung again. Prepared this time, he dodged the punch easily, seized both of Naruto's wrists with his hands, and slammed them down, pinning the boy to the floor.

"Will you stop thrashing and yacking for _one_ minute so I can say something!"

"Oh, what, NOW you wanna talk! Screw you! Pervert!"

Sasuke leaned in again, and Naruto stopped talking immediately to close his eyes and mouth, anticipating another kiss. Sasuke had been planning on this and kept his uncomfortably close pose as he spoke.

"You're shaking," the voice sounded amused "What are you scared of?"

Naruto opened his eyes, giving Sasuke a look of pure loathing "_You_." Sasuke moved down again, but Naruto turned his head to the side. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why not?"

The blonde shivered as a nose trailed up his neck, tracing the skin from his collarbone to his earlobe, and he strained against the hold on his wrists.

"Sasuke…"

Lips recovered his own in an instant "If you keep saying my name like that..."

It was a strange scene indeed: Sasuke, holding him down, forcing him to stay where he was; Naruto, resisting his captor but neglecting to fight back at the same time. He didn't understand why he was doing it, but while half of him wanted to throw Sasuke off him and beat the crap out of him, and the other half…

Sasuke's tongue wrapped around his own, dominating it, and Naruto groaned.

…**t**he other half of him just wanted to lie there, held down, and let him do it.

The kiss was fiercely different from the one he had shared with Sakura earlier that evening. Sakura had let him lead the kiss, and he had been very gentle with her. Sasuke, on the other hand, was kissing him so hard he could feel his lips bruising, and was anything but letting him lead. Naruto would be lying if he said it didn't flood him with excitement—not that that stopped him from denying it. He blamed the blood rushing to his cheeks on his anger, blamed the prickling he felt on the back of his neck on the rough wooden floor, and blamed sudden flare of heat in his groin on the fact that Sasuke had settled between his legs, a place still very sensitive from earlier that evening.

It took a few minutes of relentless attack on his mouth before Naruto finally gave into temptation and began kissing Sasuke back.

It was very uncomfortable for both of them; Naruto, with his back and shoulder blades pressing into the floor, and Sasuke, his knees and elbows the only things bracing him above the blonde besides the boy's hips. Naruto made a noise in his mouth when Sasuke shifted, rubbing their pelvises together, and Sasuke smirked against the boy's mouth. Even though Naruto was responding now, he still shook every time Sasuke's tongue grew a little bold, and his breath still hitched every time their bodies rubbed together. Yes… this was _exactly_ what Sasuke needed…

Naruto suddenly tried to move, pushing Sasuke upwards in the kiss, before Sasuke reacted and shoved him back down. The kiss broke as Naruto's head hit the floor once again, drawing out a curse, causing Naruto to rub the back of his head and glare at Sasuke.

"I was just trying to get comfortable," he muttered, trying to look irritated despite the flush on his cheeks "The bed _is_ right there, you know."

Sasuke stared down at him for a very long moment, as if he were thinking deeply about something, then sideways towards the bed and stood up without a word. He offered Naruto a hand, who took it (looking slightly suspicious at the proffered appendage) and was helped to his feet with a solid tug. Naruto found himself face-to-face with his teammate and jumped slightly when he felt hands on his hips. Sasuke leaned in and kissed him slowly this time, and Naruto, taken aback, fumbled slightly against the tongue trying to enter his mouth. Sasuke persisted for a long minute, making sure Naruto was well occupied with what was going on in his mouth before he began to take advantage of the smaller boy's change of wardrobe. The zipper of his vest, already half-undone, was simply too tempting to ignore, and was soon on a steady trail down towards the waistband of his cargos.

Naruto vaguely felt the fabric expose him, but he was too engrossed with the kissing to really notice what it meant—that is, until, Sasuke's hands traveled up his bare sides, making him shiver and groan into the taller boy's mouth. Is this how Sakura had felt when he'd touched her? Did her skin react as if it was being electrocuted every time he ran his fingertips along her body? The tongue left his mouth, followed by a disappointed sigh, but was quickly silenced with a gasp as Sasuke's lips, teeth, and tongue began to explore his neck region. Naruto tilted his head up, and then felt fingers weave into his hair at the base of his neck. A few tugs and the headband Kiba had given him fluttered to the floor, releasing a mess of wavy blonde spikes.

Sasuke always wondered if Naruto had made the connection with his appearance that everyone else was beginning to make. The adults had noticed it first, of course, but then they had known the Fourth in person. Most of their generation were only vaguely aware of his existence, and besides the carving in the cliffs among the other three Hokages, many had no clear idea what he looked like. Sasuke, however, paid more attention to his surroundings then many of his peers. He had seen Fourth's image everywhere—there was a photo hung in the Hokage's office, a photo at the Academy, a huge memorial to his death, and even a team photo of him in Kakashi's apartment. It was the latter image that Sasuke got the chance to study, and at the time he began to recognize the resemblance, he'd been shocked.

Who knew that Naruto, the idiot, the loudest ninja in Konoha, the people shunned and looked upon like trash…. Who knew that he was the son of the legendary Yondaime of Konoha?

Naruto was either oblivious to the fact, or aware of it and doing a superb job of acting ignorant—Sasuke honestly did not know which. Although he was sure the blonde would love something to brag about, would he really admit to his lineage considering his record? Did Naruto see himself as a failure to his ancestors, much like Sasuke did?

Whatever the case, Sasuke was astonished that not that many people had seemed to notice. The same hair, the same eyes, even the same skin—always a shade darker then everyone else's, like he'd just spent time tanning at the beach, or too much time in the field. Messy spikes of hair were longest over his ears, framing his face and making his powdery-blue eyes glow bright, even at night. The only difference were the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks—Sasuke never asked how he had gotten them, honestly didn't care, and might have actually admitted to finding them adorable if he were ever drunk enough.

The Uchiha teen ran his tongue along the said mark, moistening the longest of the three grazes. Naruto shuddered against him and Sasuke turned his head and bit down on the side of his neck, and Naruto leaned back, reaching for something to support him. He wobbled slightly and fell backwards with a soft thump, looking bewildered that he'd fallen onto the bed and Sasuke looking down at him with something resembling amusement.

Before Naruto could say a word, however, Sasuke had knelt down on the bed between his splayed legs and took his hips in his hands, holding them down. Naruto was about to ask what the hell he thought he was doing until Sasuke leaned forward and ran his tongue along the skin from the hem of Naruto's pants to his bellybutton. The gasp drawn out this time was much louder than those before it, and Naruto could feel the moist skin tingle as the cold air of the room swept across it. Sasuke ignored the muttered protests and continued his ministrations, licking, nibbling, sucking and occasionally biting the flesh covering Naruto's navel and hips, making the boy struggle vainly against his hold.

Naruto now only had a vague idea what was going on, as most of his attention was focused only on the way Sasuke's teeth were nibbling on his hip. If he had been paying more attention, he may have noticed how every time he lifted his hips in response, Sasuke would pull down the hem of his pants just a little bit further, exposing more skin to be explored, or the small noises escaping his throat every time Sasuke ran his hands over his stomach and sides.

Maybe Sasuke wasn't the only one who needed this.

- -

**Missing the smex? Well, if you want to read all the lovely cough 'character development' you are missing, you'll need to read it on my website, since dun like teh naughty-ness. also don't like to let us authors type in URLs because they're stingy bastards. So use your brains and type in the following addy:**

http**DOTDOTSLASHSLASH**baka**DOT**amakaze**DOT**net** -- look under R/NC17 stories for Memory Yields and click on Chapter 3 :D**

- -

Too sleepy to dwell on it, Sasuke licked his lips and crawled back up the blonde's body and nibbled on his bottom lip. Naruto opened his eyes a sliver, gazing at Sasuke through foggy lenses and kissed him thoroughly, using slow fluid strokes of his tongue, luring Sasuke back into a laying position. Breaking the kiss suddenly, Naruto rolled over and pressed his back against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke hesitated for a moment before wrapping the blonde up in his arms and burying his nose in the wisps of hair at the base of Naruto's neck.

"I guess we got a bit carried away, huh?" Naruto's voice was so quiet, Sasuke had to strain to hear it.

He didn't know what to say, so didn't answer. Naruto was silent for such a long time, Sasuke had though he'd fallen asleep and was almost to that point himself before the blonde's voice broke the silence, nearly as quiet as before.

"Sasuke?"

"Mm?" It sounded more like a grunt, mumbled against the blonde's neck.

"D'you ever get… well, lonely?"

It almost took a full minute for Sasuke to answer.

"Yeah. All the time."

Another pause.

"Do you?"

Naruto smiled sideways, though Sasuke couldn't see it, "Yeah. All the time."

- - -

When Kurenai rolled over, she immediately knew something wasn't right.

First, her bed was not pale green. In fact, she had gotten new sheets as a present from her mother a week ago, and they were red. Second, and much more disturbing, is that she was naked. As a shinobi, Kurenai knew better then to sleep in the nude. Not only was she on call at all hours of the day, but the chances that some wayward shinobi seeking vengeance would visit her in the middle of the night were too high to risk it.

She suddenly realized that the shower had been running because someone had just turned the water off. With only enough time to glance up, a door opened in front of her and a wave of steam escaped from the bathroom. Quick reflexes were the only thing that prevented her from biting off her tongue.

It was bad enough that he was only clad in a towel, but the fact that she had just woken up and came face to face with a wet, naked, finely sculpted torso did not help settle her state of mind.

"Oh, you're up," he said casually, idly toweling his grey hair "Want some coffee?"

Kurenai watched speechless as he turned and swaggered towards the closet. She almost lacked the smarts to roll over and look the other way before he dropped his towel to dress. Her mind was a buzz for several moments while trying to figure out what in the hell was going on.

"Well, do you?"

Kurenai jumped slightly, rolled onto her back and looked at him; he was wearing black slacks, part of his Jounin uniform, but was still shirtless. A gleeful little voice in the back of her mind told her that she had probably seen more than just his naked chest last night.

"Kakashi," she said, pausing slightly before continuing in an oddly steady voice "**l**ast night, did we…"

Kakashi looked amused, and she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"I take it this is the first time you've left the bar with company."

"Bar?" Kurenai blinked, vaguely, thinking. It was hard… her head had a slow, dull throb pulsating by her right temple that seemed to be blocking the process.

"The coffee will help" Kakashi disappeared from view as he tossed something over her head. "Get dressed."

Pulling the shirt off her face, she waited until he'd left the bedroom before tossing off the covers and throwing the shirt over her head. Kakashi was so tall that the shirt easily reached halfway down her thighs. She scrounged around for her dress – unable to locate it, she settled for her underwear, which was under the bed, and slipped it on under the shirt before following him into the kitchen.

The smell of the coffee was enough to wake her up, and she winced almost immediately as her headache took full effect. Her next reaction was worse – Kakashi had come up behind her and put his hands on her sides as if to steady her, and she all but jumped out of his arms. She whirled around to see the same amused expression strewn across his face.

"A bit jumpy, aren't we?"

Kurenai scowled.

"You're in an awfully good mood."

The amusement turned into something much worse: a cocky smirk. "Can you blame me?"

If she had been holding something, Kurenai was sure she would have thrown it at him. She wanted to say something, yell at him even, but she couldn't spit anything out.

Kakashi seemed to realize her dilemma and the smirk softened slightly "Your coffee's getting cold."

The coffee did help. It took almost the entire mug, but the throb in her temple was beginning to fade and her nerves were relaxing. She still couldn't remember anything from last night between leaving the bar and waking up, and she was debating on whether or not to ask Kakashi about it. It was fairly obvious what had happened, but not being able to recall any of it unsettled her slightly.

"You didn't answer me," she said finally "Earlier…"

Kakashi yawned.

"You can blame Asuma, if you want it was he who suggested I walk you home. Do you want to see what you did to my uniform? If I hadn't been drunk I would have tied you up."

Gripping her mug uncomfortably, Kurenai stared down into her coffee. She didn't want to think about what she might have done last night… it sounded insane, but she trusted Kakashi, enough not to question his story. If nothing else, he wasn't the sort of person to take advantage of others – certainly not in this manner, anyway.

Though, the remark about his uniform still worried her.

"Was I that bad?"

Kakashi grinned at her.

"I never said it was bad."

- -

When Naruto came to the next morning, his initial thought was _damn, I slept pretty well. I feel great._

Then he sat up—or rather, tried to.

"Uuunngh," he groaned, rolled over, and tried to push himself up that way, and the same pain shot through his lower back. Disoriented with sleep, Naruto racked his brain for an explanation. He hadn't been training yesterday… had he? Even still, unless he broke his tailbone recently, there was no reason his backside should hurt _this_ much.

Rolling back over, Naruto suddenly noticed the other person in his bed, and his heart skipped a beat before his brain caught up on current events.

…_oh._

Sasuke was watching him sleepily, probably just having woken up after all of his tossing and grumbling. An unmistakably smug look was plastered on his face.

"Sore?"

"Fuck you," Naruto hissed, flipping back over, facing away and lying down, trying not to wince at the sharp pain that caused. "Why are you still here?"

"Do you want me to leave?" he heard Sasuke ask tonelessly.

Naruto thought about that. "Actually, no. Go cook me breakfast."

Naruto had expected Sasuke to snort and tell him to go to hell.

Instead, he felt the bed shift, and the next thing he saw was Sasuke (dressed in only his shorts) exit the bedroom without a word.

Naruto blinked. Wait a minute…

"Hey—" Naruto was going to tell Sasuke he had been joking when he told him to leave, but his voice died as the brunette disappeared into the other room. Grumbling about the injustice of it all, Naruto carefully rolled himself out of bed and climbed to his feet. It took him a good ten minutes to even finish dressing, because every time he tried lift or bend a leg, the muscles in them would solidify and refuse to work.

Wandering into the kitchen took a while, and when he entered he was overwhelmed with the smell of rice cooking and something that smelled suspiciously like sweet miso.

_Holy shit, he's really cooking me breakfast_, was all Naruto's brain managed to think before the next, much more prominent thought was voiced aloud.

"Where's the ramen?"

Sasuke turned back to glance at him, eyebrow arched and looking slightly incredulous. "Ramen? For breakfast?"

"Yes!" Naruto told him.

Sasuke shrugged, "Well, it's not breakfast anymore. It's ten past one already."

"You can eat ramen for lunch!"

"You can eat this, too," Sasuke had turned back to the food "If you want ramen, you can make it yourself."

"But—" Naruto silently battled with his conscious, which was trying to convince him that he'd be an idiot for refusing something like this from Sasuke, and lost miserably. "Oh, fine. But next time, we're eating ramen, dammit."

"Next time?" Sasuke was still looking at the food, but he could tell by the sudden bang and fidgeting that Naruto had spazzed abruptly.

"You know what I meant!" he snapped, blushing profusely.

Naruto could have been mistaken, but it seemed like Sasuke was in an uncharacteristically good mood this afternoon.

Stupid Sasuke.

"Since when can you cook?" Naruto said huffily, peering over Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke looked back at him incredulous once again "Can't you?" _How do you eat, living alone?_

"I can cook _ramen_," Naruto defended weakly.

_No wonder you're so damn skinny_, Sasuke thought dismally "Idiot, you're going to make yourself sick."

"Ramen doesn't make me sick!"

"Eating it every day will."

"It will not!"

Turning away from the food, Sasuke turned around to face him, arms crossed. "Do you want to eat this, or not?"

"No! But I will anyway, because you're a bastard and will get shitty if I don't! And ramen will not make me sick! If anything, your stupid cooking will! So shut up, I'll eat nothing but ramen for the rest of my life if I want! So there!"

Naruto stumbled backwards as Sasuke suddenly advanced, knocking him into the table, rattling the scattered dishes on top of it. Both of Sasuke's hands slammed down on the table on either side of his hips, trapping him there. Naruto glared up at him, but Sasuke didn't look angry… in fact, the bastard was smirking.

"You're going to just eat it and like it," he said simply.

"The hell I am!" Naruto snapped, referring to Sasuke's presumption that he'd enjoy it.

Sasuke regarded him quietly, moving in almost too slowly to kiss him. His lips pressed lightly against the blonde's, letting his tongue just barely graze the gap between them, coaxing them open, most likely trying to calm him down. Naruto, however, learned this trick last night and was quick to use it as a distraction and grab Sasuke by his forearms and flip him around, reversing their positions. Sasuke's back hit the table with a crash, knocking over a couple of glasses.

"—the hell are you doing! Nar—"

This time, it was Sasuke who found himself cut off with a kiss and was pushed roughly back onto the kitchen table, scattering what dishes were left there onto the floor, several of them breaking with a crash. Naruto had climbed up on all fours over him, apparently oblivious to the way the table was creaking under their weight, and kissing him fiercely. Sasuke resisted for a moment, uncomfortable with the blonde's use of force and concerned with the well-being of the food on the stove. A few seconds of relentless tongue dueling, however, and he was more then willing to cooperate.

Naruto was using one of his hands to hold himself up, and the other began to explore the bare skin of Sasuke's chest, something he had had little time to spare appreciating the night before. He positioned his hips between the Uchiha's and felt the brunette groan into his mouth. Sasuke tangled a hand in his hair, tugging it slightly, making him groan back and lean deeper into the kiss. Maybe it was because he was fully awake this time, but it was only now that Naruto realized he actually enjoyed kissing Sasuke—it felt good, it felt right, and always left him hungry for more.

If the smell of burnt rice wasn't enough to draw them out of their distraction, a very surprised Kiba busting through the unlocked front door certainly was.

A few moments stunned silence in which Kiba stared wide-eyed, Naruto looked up, and Sasuke tilted his head down to look upside-down towards the den, was followed by a sharp exclamation.

"What the _fuck!_" Kiba yelped, and Naruto all but fell off the table.

Kiba did not stick around to find out what _exactly_ the fuck was, however, because he departed as quickly as he'd come, slamming the door so hard it bounced back open.

"Shit!" Naruto picked himself of the floor, and then hopped on one foot because he'd stepped on broken glass with the other. "Shitshitshit!"

Sasuke may have had some input on the situation, but was too busy laughing it away on top of the table to bother.

- - -

"So, you ready for this?"

Kakashi watched Asuma ask from his seat on the windowsill, one hand in his vest pocket, the other holding open his book. Asuma's place was so tiny that he could have been on the other side of the apartment and still hear every word, so it was pointless to pretend like he wasn't listening to the two at the table.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Kurenai answered, shrugging. "I've done worse."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

Asuma ignored the latter half of her answer. "You do know that Kiba's signed up to do this too, don't you?"

"Yeah, and? So is Naruto. They have to grow up someday. They need to do an S-class gig to even be considered for ANBU."

Asuma looked unconvinced. "Isn't Sasuke up for this one, too?"

Kakashi nodded.

"And you're not worried about either of them reacting to—do they even know that she's part of the job?"

"Oh for crying out loud, Asuma It's just a minor role its not like she's going to be in any danger. Besides, have you seen that girl throw a punch?"

"Naruto and Sasuke have both grown immensely," Kakashi assured him. "I'm not even worried about Sasuke—Naruto's bound to be a bit shocked, but like Kurenai said, they have to realize that this job isn't just about throwing kunai."

"Still," Asuma sighed, "I wouldn't let Ino sign up with Shikamaru on the job he'd throw a fit."

Kurenai looked dubious. "Shikamaru throws fits?"

Asuma shrugged, "Not yet, but I think this'd be enough to warrant one."

"Anyway, Tsume was supposed to be with me, not Sakura—I think that would have killed Kiba as it were—but after that last mission, she won't be going anywhere for a while. Anko's too well known in the area, and the same goes for the other two that were available. So we needed someone younger… Hinata is way too important to risk on the job, Ino's already signed on another role, and Sakura volunteered for it anyway. I think she wants the chance to prove she has what it takes. She's been going with me for three weeks now, you should see how she handles the guys—she'll do fine."

Neither of the men looked convinced, although Kakashi was doing a very good job of hiding it. Even though he knew it was necessary, and trusted his kids' abilities, Kurenai could see the doubt in his gaze. Kurenai knew the feeling—she would have felt the same way if it had been Hinata going instead.

"I won't let anything happen to her," she promised them "I'll look after her."

"Yeah?" Asuma said, "And who's going to look after you?"

Kurenai looked slightly indignant, but knew better then to be insulted—it was hard to be when she knew he was only worried about her.

"I'll be fine, Asuma. We'll have two teams of ANBU outside for backup, not to mention two Sharingan users. I doubt they can cook anything up to rival that."

"Let's hope not," Kakashi said quietly.

- - -

**A/N:** Waaaaaaaaah, sorry this took so long x.x; The smut gave me an uncharacteristically hard time… I'm still not sure if I'm happy with how it progressed ' Let me know if there's any complaints, I'm not below editing chapters after they're published ;;

There, Ochiba-sama: they fucked, happy now:P

Poor Kiba-kun… XD;;


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